The Effort It Actually Takes to Reach a US Open Final, According to Aryna Sabalenka’s Whoop Data

2 min readAryna Sabalenka is on her way to her fourth straight US Open final—and potentially third straight win of the entire tournament. While the tennis pro may have made her defeat of the no. 3-ranked player Jessica Pegula look easy yesterday, her Whoop data tells another story.Women’s Health got a look at a few key data points from her wearable. Here’s what we learned.Going into the match, Sabalenka was recovered and well-rested.A major tennis tournament puts a lot of strain on your body. Sabalenka has played six games over three weeks against the world’s best players, so it’s safe to imagine that her recovery scores could be taking some major hits.Luckily, that wasn’t the case heading into the semifinal against Pegula. Her recovery was at 81 percent—her highest of the tournament. At 81 percent, this recovery score put Sabalenka squarely into Whoop’s green zone, meaning she was ready to handle a strenuous day, per the company’s description. (We’d call an hour and 20 minutes of tennis a strenuous day!)This score was also supported by her sleep performance from the night before at a nearly perfect 95 percent. (Yeah, we’re impressed.)During the game, Sabalenka was fully tested.Per her Whoop stats, Sabalenka went into the semifinal the most recovered she had been all tournament—and came out of it with some of the biggest challenges so far. Her max heart rate during the match? 196 beats per minute, which could be anywhere from 80 percent or more of her maximum heart rate. It was the tennis star’s highest of the tournament.But, that’s not the only insight we have into her game. Whoop also measures what it calls “Strain,” which is basically its estimate of the cardiovascular and muscular demand from your day. The lowest strain a person can have is zero and the highest is 21. Sabalenka’s was 20.3, just slightly lower than her 20.5 score after she played Linda Noskova.According to Whoop, that’s an all-out, exceptional effort that could take multiple days to recover from. She’s got just one more before she takes on Elena Rybakina in the final.Tomorrow, Sabalenka will go for her third straight US Open win.If it happens, she would be the first person to do a three-peat at the iconic tournament since Serena Williams in 2014.While we don’t know exactly what Sabalenka is up to in order to recharge and recover in between matches this year, she previously told WH that breathing exercises and plenty of carbs and protein are two of her go-to strategies before, during, and after matches.Wishing her a perfect sleep score and even better recovery one!Shop WHOOP BandsOlivia Luppino is an associate editor at Women’s Health. She spends most of her time interviewing expert sources about the latest fitness trends, nutrition tips, and practical advice for living a healthier life. Olivia previously wrote for New York Magazine’s The Cut, PS (formerly POPSUGAR), and Salon, where she also did on-camera interviews with celebrity guests. She recently ran the New York City Marathon.