Aryna Sabalenka says she's 'flipping the page' after opening Wimbledon win

This time last year, Aryna Sabalenka was sitting on the sidelines during the Wimbledon fortnight after being forced to withdraw from the event with a shoulder injury.

This time three weeks ago, she was dealing with the fallout from comments she made after losing to Coco Gauff in the final of Roland Garros, saying that she lost the match more than the American won it.

But after a 6-1, 7-5 win over Canadian qualifier Carson Branstine on No. 1 Court at the All England Club on Monday, the world No. 1 told Martina Navratilova and Steve Weissman that she's turning the page on all that's behind her as she starts her quest for a first Wimbledon title.

"I'm just super grateful that I'm healthy and I'm ready to compete," Sabalenka said, further going on to address the dust-up with Gauff, which both players said was a distant memory in the days ahead of the tournament in both words and actions.

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"It's something I'm definitely not proud of but we're learning, right?" Sabalenka said. "I lost control over my emotions and I was so upset with myself that I was just completely lost. I'm relaly happy that she was like, 'Yeah, girl, I got it; it's OK.' It was such a relief [in my heart]."

Read more: Coco Gauff believes criticism of Aryna Sabalenka's Roland Garros remarks went "too far"

"It was really hard in that moment when I lost," she continued. "For some reason I thought that I won the first set, and I thought, 'OK, it's coming.' But it slipped away, and then after a little while ... I'm glad it happened to me what happened, because I had the opportunity to sit back and look at everything as a bigger picture. I realized she was a better player, so there's nothing to recover from. Flip the page and move on to the next one. I'm here with a new setup in my head, recharged and ready to go."

Against Branstine, Sabalenka needed to reset too, after a dominant opening set. The former college tennis star, who won a national title last year with Texas A&M University, found her footing in the second set, and forced Sabalenka to problem-solve. She saved the only break point she faced in her first service game of that set, and served from behind before winning the last three games.

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The top seed will next face 2022 Wimbledon quarterfinalist Marie Bouzkova in the second round on Wednesday.