Anton Dubrov, Aryna Sabalenka’s coach. Photo: Unbox Sports
Inside the recovery philosophy of Aryna Sabalenka’s coach
Anton Dubrov spends 35 to 40 weeks a year on the road. He coaches the best women’s tennis player on the planet. And before a single ball is struck each day, he has already thought carefully about one thing: how well did she sleep.
“I always think about sleep as one part of training,” Dubrov says, speaking in Miami during a brief break in the WTA Tour calendar. “This is one of the most underrated training blocks that athletes are missing. Especially juniors. When you are young, you have lots of power and energy and you do not think about it. But as you get older, you feel it.”
Adaptation doesn’t happen on the court
Most coaches talk about recovery as what happens after training ends. Dubrov does not see it that way.
“The most adaptation, everything we practise on the court, happens during sleep, especially deep sleep. The better you can sleep, the better you are going to perform. No matter how hard you train, if you are under-recovered all the time, it is not going to help you.”
In a tournament where matches stack physical stress on top of physical stress, the consequences compound fast. “Under-recovery will actually increase your physical fatigue. You have to be thinking about it ahead. Plan it as a training block.”
The post-match call most coaches get wrong
After a late match finish, every tennis team faces the same decision: treatment or sleep. There is usually not enough time for both. The standard routine, covering bike, physio, ice bath, compression, and nutrition, can run two to three hours. Finish at midnight, start treatment, sleep at 2am, wake at seven for an early draw. Dubrov cuts it short.
“After a match, go on the bike for seven to ten minutes. Get some food. Get out of the site, go to your room, shower, and go to sleep. Prioritise sleep. It is more important. The longer you delay your sleep, the worse the recovery.”
He is not dismissing treatment. He is sequencing it correctly. A late physio session done at the cost of two hours of deep sleep is, in his view, a net negative.
Anton Dubrov, Aryna Sabalenka’s coach. Photo: Unbox Sports
The freezer room
Travelling across every climate and time zone for most of the year is a sustained assault on sleep quality. Dubrov’s response is to control what he can. He travels with the same pillow on every trip. He requests rooms on higher floors, away from street noise and elevator traffic. He uses blackout curtains, brings earplugs, and will not book a room without functioning air conditioning.
“We can spend thousands of dollars to figure out what kind of shoes and rackets and strings we need. But then we arrive at a hotel with a random pillow, no working AC, and no blackout curtains, and we do not think about our recovery at all. That makes no sense.”
On temperature, he is precise. “I would say 68°F, around 20°C. For deep sleep, studies show that cooler is much better. You can even drop one or two degrees lower, and it is going to help you even more with recovery. Some athletes sleep at 61°F (16°C), which sounds like a freezer. But if it works and you feel better, why not?”
The gap nobody is talking about
Dubrov raises something almost entirely absent from mainstream coaching discourse: the distinct sleep and recovery needs of female athletes, and how little research has historically addressed them.
“Female athletes have been so underrated in recovery and training research. Most studied protocols have been on male athletes. Right now we are getting much more data on how female athletes recover, train, and eat, but we are still catching up.”
For Dubrov, this shapes how he manages Sabalenka’s schedule across a full season. The menstrual cycle is something he factors into every aspect of planning, including the sleep environment.
“In the second phase of the cycle, body temperature increases. You have to be aware that the sleep environment should be cooler than usual to help with recovery. During a tournament you cannot change much, but you can adjust the environment. Better recovery and sleep help you control the emotional and physical side much more during this sensitive period.”
Anton Dubrov, Aryna Sabalenka’s coach. Photo: Unbox Sports
The number tells you something
Dubrov’s final point is about what to do with sleep data once you have it. Tracking is not passive observation. It is an input that should change what happens the next day. His starting point for any athlete new to structured sleep: fix the wake-up time first. Everything else follows from that anchor.
“Start with the same wake-up time. Eight to nine hours would be great, but begin with the wake-up time. If you do not have enough hours of sleep, aim for day naps, especially if you have two training sessions. One to two hours between sessions is ideal.”
The number tells you something. What you do with it is the coaching.
For readers who want to go deeper: common questions
How does Anton Dubrov approach sleep as part of training? Dubrov treats sleep as a training block rather than a passive recovery period. He believes most physical adaptation from on-court practice occurs during deep sleep, and that under-recovery compounds physical fatigue during tournament periods.
What is the optimal sleep temperature for elite tennis players? Dubrov recommends approximately 68°F (20°C) as a baseline, with some athletes benefiting from temperatures as low as 61°F (16°C). Cool room temperatures help the body’s core temperature drop, which is a prerequisite for deep, restorative sleep.
How do female athletes’ sleep needs differ from male athletes? According to Dubrov, female athletes are significantly underrepresented in sports recovery research. During the second phase of the menstrual cycle, body temperature rises, meaning the sleep environment should be cooler than usual. Coaches working with female athletes need to factor this into scheduling and environment planning.
Is sleep more important than physio treatment after a match? When time is limited after a late match, sleep takes priority. Dubrov recommends a short bike cooldown, food, and 60 to 90 minutes to decompress before sleeping, rather than a lengthy treatment protocol that pushes sleep onset later.
How does Aryna Sabalenka’s coach manage sleep quality on tour? Dubrov controls environmental variables wherever possible: same pillow every trip, high-floor hotel rooms away from noise, blackout curtains, earplugs, and reliable air conditioning. He treats the sleep environment as a performance variable, not an afterthought.
