Aryna Sabalenka Is Ready To Get “Back on Track” For The US Open

The Run-Through with Vogue

In this live-taped episode of The Run-Through with Vogue, co-hosts Nicole Phelps and Corey Seymour interview tennis champion Aryna Sabalenka at

Key takeaways

• Sabalenka reflects on a challenging season but is focused on regaining form for the US Open.
• Her playful relationship with her team includes a promise to get a puppy if she wins, highlighting her personal motivation and humor.

Main topics

• Aryna Sabalenka's US Open preparation
• Tennis career reflections and challenges

Notable quotes

"There's been a lot of ups and downs. I would say that I started the season really well, on a strong note. But then, something went really off the hill, but I'm getting back on track."

Conclusion

Aryna Sabalenka enters the US Open with renewed focus and personal motivation, balancing her

Transcript preview

Speaker 4 (0:05) This is The Run-Through, and I'm Chloe Mao. Today, I am joined by my lovely co-host, Nicole Phelps. Hi, Chloe. And today on the show, we have a very exciting conversation that you, Nicole, and Vogue's senior editor, Corey Seymour, conducted with tennis superstar Irina Sabalenka. This was a live podcast recording at the Gucci Fifth Avenue flagship. Irina is a Speaker 8 (0:32) Gucci gal. And we, as you'll recall, had an amazing Stephen Klein photographed digital cover of Arena. that ran right before the French Open in May, but is running in our September issue. And so it was very exciting and timely for you guys to get Speaker 4 (0:50) to speak to Irina. And also, as she was launching into the U.S. Open. Yes. What were the highlights? I haven't heard the conversation yet. Well, Speaker 3 (0:56) we talked about her Gucci fit, of course. It was look 18 in the fall show. And talked about her fabulous engagement ring and some wedding planning. Oh, we need that wedding. Yes, we need that wedding, if you're listening, Irina. And we also talked about her sweet puppy, I guess who's no longer a puppy, Ash. Ooh, future dog. Yes, future dog who she got after she won the U.S. Open last year. She made a deal with her team that if she won, she would get a puppy. Oh, wow. And the reason she needed to do that, of course, is because she's busy and she would count on the team to watch the dog when she's playing her matches. Oh, yes, I recall this. from Rob Haskell's excellent Speaker 8 (1:42) profile of her. And in it, Ash, the puppy who is named for Arthur Ashe Stadium, was peeing all over the hotel room. So Speaker 1 (1:51) it Speaker 8 (1:51) was a real portrait Speaker 1 (1:52) of chaos. Speaker 8 (1:52) Hopefully, Ash has been potty trained by now. Speaker 4 (1:57) And what Corey Seymour, who Speaker 8 (1:59) is, blessedly for the rest of us, our resident tennis nut and really where Anna channels all of her. tennis passion. He, Speaker 4 (2:10) was Speaker 8 (2:11) he starstruck? Speaker 3 (2:13) Well, he'd met her before, so they were actually sort of chummy. And, you know, he was at Indian Wells earlier this year, and he interviewed her. And so he pressed her on some of the more intense, yes, on-court details, which I know nothing about. What was so exciting is that she was playing like 12 hours later, basically. She was doing mixed doubles with Novak Djokovic. Because this was Speaker 4 (2:40) Tuesday Speaker 3 (2:41) evening. This was Monday evening. Monday evening. She was playing yesterday on Tuesday. And they actually lost. But I think it was, you know, either way, it's good for the U.S. Open to have two huge stars like Irina and Novak playing together. And so it's off. It's happening. What is your feeling about live tapings, Nicole? Well, they're definitely harder to do than not live tapings. I think you're not only trying to connect with the person across from you, you're connecting with the audience. And whether or not you're not connecting, you can sort of read their reactions. Are they fiddling? Are they getting bored? That's, you know, the worst. What about you? Speaker 8 (3:23) I feel like you're serving two masters in a way. You are both... You want to engage the audience that's there with you, but you also need to be thinking about the listeners. So if you're gesturing to something, it's not going to work. You want it to be something that can just be listened to. And I also feel that sometimes the logistics, you're thinking about more, you're juggling more. It feels like a more... You need to be more dexterous to get through it. Like even it wasn't a live podcast recording, but at the Teen Vogue Fest, I interviewed Maisie Williams and Joey King. And the audience could hear them, but I couldn't hear Maisie. And so I was sort of only heard like 60 percent of what she was saying. So you're just always trying to catch up a bit, I find. But it's also really fun. to be in a room with people who are very excited to be part of the podcast. Like for the Devil Wears Prada screening interview with Billie Norwich and Kate Young, the people were so engaged and excited. And I think that also can be lovely. Speaker 3 (4:29) Yes, Irina was swarmed after our interview. People coming up to her, talking about, you know, the rackets they bought inspired by her and hopefully some of the Gucci pieces they bought too. Speaker 3 (4:44) Are you a tennis person or anyone in your family? My husband a little bit more, but we're American football Speaker 8 (4:50) family. Tennis is not something I'm going to watch at home, but I do find it really fun to go to the U.S. Open, and it is something I really enjoy getting the opportunity to do. So I'm very excited. I'm going next Wednesday. Do you know what match you're seeing? Absolutely no idea. It Speaker 4 (5:04) hasn't even occurred to me to look. Speaker 4 (5:09) Well, I'm very excited about your and Corey's convo with Arena. But before we get to that, a couple of headlines for the week. The Vogue office is, I mean, the slack reactions Speaker 8 (5:22) to the news of Dolly Parton was just seismic in our office. It was very sad. Speaker 4 (5:27) But also, I found it very touching how quickly people... published stories from all, you know, from the fashion team to our beauty editor to obviously an obit and the best photos of her. Like, she Speaker 8 (5:42) is just so universally beloved. And we were all very sad but very excited to celebrate her. I think that's the nicest thing when someone passes away is people's collective urge to celebrate someone. Yeah. Speaker 3 (5:55) I spent my evening. going through my Instagram and seeing all the tributes and singing along with my husband and our house guest. We did Islands in the Stream. Oh, wow. And 9 to 5. Wow. And I tried to get them to do Hard Candy Christmas, which is a little bit more obscure in her oeuvre. It's from The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, an early 1980s movie that I'm sure you haven't seen. But it's a Speaker 4 (6:22) great song. Wow. I'm very impressed with that. Well, I actually have a children's book that's like one of those little golden books that's Speaker 8 (6:30) Who is Dolly Parton that Alice really likes because she has the coat of many colors and she made that as a child. So I'm going to like be sobbing reading that to Alice this weekend. I also heard a biographer of Dolly Parton discussing this morning on NPR. how generous Dolly was about people covering her songs. And I thought that she was unique in that way, that she encouraged it. She felt that her songs should have life beyond them. And I thought that that was really lovely and generous and something interesting to think about when everyone's so protective Speaker 3 (7:03) of their... She also does a very good cover herself, Dolly, along with Emmylou Harris and Linda Ronstadt of After the Gold Rush by Neil Young. And that was another song that I listened to last night. We'll be thinking about Dolly and her family this week for sure. Speaker 4 (7:18) Also, the Dolly musical is coming to Broadway this winter. Very exciting. Try getting a ticket to that. I know. It's going to have a lot more gravitas now. As we are recording this, I see that Tim Curry has sadly died, which I'm a big Speaker 8 (7:37) fan. I love him in Clue. But I know he goes, he reaches far beyond that, but I do always think of him in Clue and obviously Rocky Horror. I thought of him a lot when I went to see the new Broadway show of Rocky Horror because I think it's so hard to separate him from that role, but Luke Evans did a very good job of paying homage. I Speaker 3 (8:01) am going to go with Annie. 1982, Annie. Oh, my God. Good call. I just watched that. I think that was maybe one of the first movies I saw in the movie theater as a child. Speaker 4 (8:11) We watched that two weeks ago when we were on vacation. Did you love it? Did the kids love it? We only—it's very long. Speaker 8 (8:19) We only got to, it's like over two hours, which for my children is like an eternity. So we only, we didn't get to the kidnapping part, which is Tim Curry's big moment as the bad guy, which I think Arthur would have been most excited by. He got bored around the FDR moment. Speaker 3 (8:37) He's not going to be a history, history buff. But I, Speaker 8 (8:40) anyway, yes, that is a great Tim Curry. And he's dating Bernadette Peters in it. It's Speaker 3 (8:44) a Speaker 8 (8:44) whole thing. Speaker 3 (8:45) Chloe? Yes. How was the September issue event at Casa Magazines? I love the picture of you with Kaya and Homer. Looking very short. Well, she had on very high heels. She Speaker 4 (8:57) had on Speaker 8 (8:57) the highest Gucci heels I've ever seen. Those Speaker 3 (8:59) are Speaker 8 (8:59) the Speaker 3 (8:59) ones Speaker 4 (9:00) that Irina was wearing on Monday night. And already her legs are like stilts. So it was like stilts Speaker 8 (9:05) on stilts. It was a very impressive work. The event was really fun and so charming because Kaya... Gerber and Homer Gere both joined us at the West Village Casa Magazines, which is, for those who don't know, a great old-school magazine shop that really is a celebration of print media. You walk into Casa and Speaker 4 (9:27) it just smells like paper. And Homer and Kaya came and signed issues for subscribers and they... go out behind the counter. They learned how to do cash register, check out. They were very excited. They figured out Apple Pay. And people were really excited to see them. And a lot of people came in saying, I love the show, last night's episode, blah, blah, blah. So it also made me think about the power of releasing Speaker 8 (9:54) TV serially rather than the drop, which we become used to. I think that it's very, it's good for a collective experience, that people were really hanging on this week's episode in a way that you wouldn't with an episode. If you're binging. Binge is the word I was looking for. Speaker 4 (10:16) Kai looked fab. She was wearing a chocolate Speaker 8 (10:19) brown Gucci tank top and satin trousers and, as we said, the highest heels I've ever seen. And the heel, the stiletto Speaker 4 (10:27) was... The width of a pin. It was a safety pin, thick stiletto. I just couldn't look away. Speaker 3 (10:35) I think Homer's so cute, though, too. I love that. I love the navy blazer and the faded jeans. It's so 1980s. He looks Speaker 4 (10:43) so cute. Speaker 3 (10:43) He, Speaker 4 (10:44) working with, when we did the September shoot, he was like, I think I'm going to need to work with a stylist. Do you have any ideas? And I sent him a few ideas, and he ended up working with Sandra Amador. She's doing a Speaker 8 (10:54) great job. I think he looks great. And he's just lovely. And we had Speaker 4 (10:59) a Speaker 8 (10:59) good time and it Speaker 4 (11:00) was fun to see. We had also our run through phone booth, which was a great idea with it. old school phone, rotary phone, that people could pick up the phone and heard my voice saying, leave a question for Vogue. And all of these young subscribers, they were three roommates who are students at FIT. Two were twins and one was a third Speaker 8 (11:25) roommate. And they were there from 3 p.m., like an hour before Homer and Kaya got there and stayed until 6 p.m. They were such big fans. They left questions and it was really fun to hear what they were interested in. Arden Fanning left a question. that I'm already thinking about, which is what is Anna's favorite cover of Vogue and what is your favorite cover of Vogue? I remember Anna answered that in the September issue, which was the next one. Speaker 4 (11:49) But then we also had the New Yorkina popsicles, which is a delicious popsicle purveyor. I love horchata, and they had a horchata popsicle, which was delicious. And then Kai and Homer, they zipped off to... Arthur Ashe Stadium because Anna was hosting an event celebrating Roger Federer induction into the Tennis Hall of Fame. And there was a special match. Roger was on the court. Very exciting. Let's talk about Speaker 3 (12:22) our CBFF visits. We have been out of office this week in the afternoons going all over Manhattan and Brooklyn to see the Fashion Fund finalists. Speaker 8 (12:35) It's true. I have to say when I, this is my first year judging the CFDA Vogue Fashion Fund finalists. And I was worried when I started doing this that it was going to just be such a time investment. And I knew about these studio visits and I was like, oh, it's going to be so hard. Speaker 4 (12:52) And now it's been, you know, you sort of group them together and it's three afternoons in August. And it is such a joy and such a reminder of why we do what we do. I've really been inspired and enjoying it and also to see the Speaker 8 (13:08) variety and how different the sensibilities and