Aryna Sabalenka hoping she ‘won’t become an alcoholic’ after Miami Open celebrations | Tennis | Sport

Aryna Sabalenka has joked that she doesn’t want to “become an alcoholic” after lifting the Miami Open trophy. The world No. 1 beat Jessica Pegula to claim her 19th career title on Saturday night and quickly started planning her celebrations, including some well-deserved drinks.

Sabalenka suffered some tough defeats in other big finals this year – missing out on titles at the Australian Open and Indian Wells. But the 26-year-old finally broke her duck in Miami and wanted to mark the occasion in style with plenty of tequila.

After finishing runner-up in Indian Wells two weeks ago, Sabalenka capped off an impressive ‘sunshine double’ by picking up the trophy in Miami.

The world No. 1 had never been beyond the quarter-finals of the tournament before this year, but she went all the way, beating Pegula 7-5 6-2 on Saturday.

Sabalenka now has a couple of weeks off before she begins the clay season, and she’s planning to let her hair down.

Sharing her team’s celebratory plans, the Belarusian said: “Today we’re going to chill, but tomorrow I’m going to force them to do something, to have drinks, to have I don’t know, maybe some burgers, pizza, just to have fun.

“I think we should celebrate because we struggled after those tough finals. We all were kind of, like, depressed. I think after this final, we have to celebrate a little bit just to remember the moment.”

The three-time Major winner is an ambassador for Dobel Tequila and she even enjoyed a margarita live on air with Tennis Channel after being crowned the Miami Open champion.

But Sabalenka also joked that she didn’t want to take things too far while celebrating. “Tequila, yes, of course. I didn’t say that. It was just obvious in my head,” she added.

“Yeah, it’s going to be tequila. I’m getting older. Before I would celebrate with some sugar stuff. Nowadays, it’s alcohol. I hope I’m not going to become alcoholic, but yeah.

“But if I will, it means that I had a lot of trophies to celebrate. So I can sacrifice that.”

Sabalenka is next expected to compete at the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix in Stuttgart, an indoor clay event taking place from April 14.

For now, the world No. 1 will enjoy her victory with plenty of food and drink. The 26-year-old also has a home in Miami, making her latest title win extra special.