She Is My Champion

Reported by Harper's Bazaar.

Aryna Sabalenka doesn't just play tennis like the world's No. 1-ranked women's player—she moves through life the way her mother taught her to dress: with intention, without apology, and in pieces that matter. The Gucci Global Brand Ambassador carries an easy authority that feels less inherited than earned, traced back to a woman who never let her daughter believe winning was the only metric that counted.

Over the last four or five years, Sabalenka and her mother, Yuliya, have built something neither expected in her childhood: a genuine friendship. "We're still trying to reach our destination of being best friends," Sabalenka says, acknowledging the work it took to get there. It started with a fundamental shift in how her mother approached her daughter's tennis career. Sabalenka recalls a parent who placed zero weight on whether she won or lost matches—only whether she gave everything she had. That distinction rewired how the athlete understood competition itself, according to Harper's Bazaar. "My mother helped me realize that life is much bigger than just tennis," she explains. "You do what you can, and then stay in the moment."

The Wardrobe Wars (That She Actually Won)

If her mother's emotional intelligence shaped Sabalenka's resilience, her aesthetic legacy shaped something equally potent: confidence. The woman who once enforced a strict code of "chic, classy, and elegant" during Sabalenka's childhood has since watched her daughter weaponize that advice, whether she's courtside in a sporty-sleek moment or draped in a feathered Gucci poncho. The irony is delicious—the girl who resisted her mother's sartorial mandates now understands that looking intentional makes her feel unstoppable. "I feel better when I know that I look good," she says without irony. "It gives me confidence."

These days, the power dynamic has flipped entirely. Sabalenka now ships her mother curated pieces from across the globe, hand-selected wardrobe drops that arrive with the precision of a professional stylist. Her mother, once the arbiter of taste, now trusts her daughter completely. They don't share identical preferences—Sabalenka fixates on bags, her mother on shoes—but they've found their convergence in jewelry, which she sends with the satisfaction of someone who has finally been vindicated. The one catch: different sizes mean her mother can admire, but not always borrow.

The lesson embedded in their evolution, both personal and sartorial, is the one Yuliya repeats to this day: focus on yourself, stay present, and let your appearance reflect your intention rather than anyone else's agenda. For Sabalenka, that's meant competing at the highest level while honoring the woman who taught her that winning was never the point—showing up, fully and unapologetically, always was.

Read the original at Harper's Bazaar.