Archive of posts tagged Sabalenka

What Swiatek and Gauff Must do to Get to No.1 at US Open

Posted by on

Defending champion Aryna Sabalenka is in danger of surrendering the top ranking, but only if she can’t reach the quarterfinals at Flushing Meadows. 

tennis express pro player gear
tennis express pro player gear

Givn that Sabalenka has reached at least the quarterfinals in her last 11 Grand Slam main draw appearances, it’s a safe bet that she’ll get the job done. 

But if she falters, Iga Swiatek and Coco Gauff will have a shot during this year’s Flushing fortnight. 

As the defending US Open champion, Sabalenka is defending 2,000 points in New York. Without those her effective total at the start of the tournament is 9,225, compared with 7,503 for Swiatek and 7,634 for Coco Gauff, giving both a shot at the crown come week’s end.

Sabalenka US Open
Sabalenka US Open

If Sabalenka makes the quarterfinals, she would lock down the top spot regardless of other results.

Sabalenka will face Polina Kudermetova in second-round action, while Swiatek and Gauff will kick off their campaigns with first-round matches on Tuesday, Day 3. 

Emma Raducanu admits she is not targeting Slams e WTA 1000 titles at the moment

Posted by on

Cincinnati

Emma Raducanu says she is keeping her goals realistic at the moment and isn't expecting to win Grand Slam and WTA 1000 tournaments, but highlights that will change as soon as she gets to her desired level.

Prior to coming to Cincinnati, the world No. 33 made a splash move and hired Rafael Nadal's former long-time coach Francisco Roig. When addressing the collaboration for the first time, the 22-year-old noted that she hired Roig because she thought he could help her improve her shots and get to the level where she could legitimately challenge the very best in the game.

Since winning her first and lone title at the 2021 US Open, Raducanu hasn't made any finals. Also, she hasn't been ranked inside the top-10 since early 2022. 

“I know there will be a time where I'll be targeting big tournaments, Masters and Slams, but to be honest, right now, that's not my goal. My goal is to improve as a player," the 22-year-old said in Cincinnati. 

Raducanu's honest expectation for the upcoming Aryna Sabalenka match in Cincinnati

For a place in the Cincinnati round-of-16, Raducanu will battle against three-time Grand Slam champion Sabalenka. For the 22-year-old Briton, it will be a chance to register her first-ever win against a world No. 1. However, in their previous two meetings – of which the last came at Wimbledon – the Belarusian handled the business in straight sets.

Heading into their third meeting, the British tennis player suggests the Cincinnati surface favors more the top seed.

“I'm reasonable enough, and I guess honest enough with myself, to know that different surfaces favor different people, and where my game is at in comparison. So, I think the grass gave me a bit of an advantage (against Sabalenka), but we'll see how it goes," Raducanu explained.

A bit interestingly, Raducanu is only now making her second Cincinnati appearance. In her first and lone appearance at the American WTA 1000 tournament in 2022, she reached the last-16 before losing to Jessica Pegula.

Aryna Sabalenka gets candid in her YT vlog: 'So annoying… Feel like such a loser'

Posted by on

Amanda Anisimova

Aryna Sabalenka may have gone to Greece to try to relax after Wimbledon but admitted in a new vlog that she felt like "a loser" and that she couldn't fully enjoy her time in Mykonos because she still had thought about what happened at The Championships.

This year, Sabalenka appeared to be primed to finally make her Wimbledon breakthrough. But she was hit with a cold shower after Amanda Anisimova upset her in the semifinal. For the 27-year-old Belarusian, it was her third consecutive loss in the last-four stage at The All England Club.

In her post-match presser, Sabalenka didn't hide her disappointment but she also remarked that she was going to Mykonos, where she would be hard on alcohol and sweets. Now, ahead of her return to action in North America, the 27-year-old shed light on how she felt during the vacation.

Sabalenka: I'm going to be on the beach thinking, 'I am such a loser'

"I think it’s important to go and have fun and enjoy life. But it’s so f—— annoying about being an athlete, honestly. All your life depends on your result. You win and you are the happiest person that you can be. You just enjoy, life feels so good. But when you lose it’s just tough to enjoy. I am going to be there on the beach thinking it’s so beautiful, but I lost. I am such a loser. I hate myself. It’s like you are constantly living your life in these ups and downs," the 27-year-old said.

On paper, Sabalenka has had a great year at Grand Slams as she has been consistently delivering. But the world No. 1 still remains without her fourth Grand Slam title. At the start of the year, the Belarusian fell short to Madison Keys in the Australian Open final. A couple of months later, she also lost to Coco Gauff in the French Open title match.

Sabalenka will hope to at least defend her US Open title and make some amends. 

Sabalenka on RG Reaction: Completely Unprofessional

Posted by on

"I absolutely regret what I said back then," Aryna Sabalenka said of her controversial comments after losing the Roland Garros final.Aryna Sabalenka

By Richard Pagliaro | @Tennis_Now | Tuesday, June 17, 2025
Photo credit: Julien DeRosa-AFP-Getty

Reality has induced regret in Aryna Sabalenka.

World No. 1 Sabalenka calls her behavior after her Roland Garros final loss to Coco Gauff "completely unprofessional" and shared she wrote a letter to the two-time Grand Slam champion apologizing for her behavior.

Tennis Express

The US Open champion said while we all have bad days at work "the difference with me is…I get a lot more hate for what I did."

"I absolutely regret what I said back then," Sabalenka told Eurosport Germany. "You know, we all make mistakes. I’m just a human being who’s still learning in life. "I think we all have those days when we lose control.

"The difference with me is, the world is watching. I get a lot more hate for what I did than other people."

In the first French Open final between the world’s top two women in 12 years, No. 2 Gauff was simply too tough for No. 1 Sabalenka at crunch time.

A resilient Coco Gauff combated Sabalenka’s fierce power with pure poise pulling off a 6-7(5), 6-2, 6-4 comeback to capture her maiden Roland Garros championship in a thriller.

Afterward, the world’s best player called it her worst final.

“It was really honestly the worst tennis I've played in the last, I don't know, in the last I don't know how many month,” Sabalenka told the media in Paris afterward. “Conditions were terrible, and she simply was better in these conditions than me.

"I think it was the worst final I ever played.”

Sabalenka, who struggled to cope with whipping winds and an unrelenting Gauff's comprehensive court coverage, took criticism afterward for what some felt were ungracious and classless comments.

The top-seeded Sabalenka committed 70 unforced errors. Sabalenka said at times she felt the tennis universe was playing a cosmic joke on her with Gauff’s running retrievals turning her damaging drives into punch lines.

“I mean, honestly sometimes it felt like she was hitting the ball from the frame,” Sabalenka said. “Somehow magically the ball lands in the court, and you kind of, like, on the back foot.

“It felt like a joke, honestly, like somebody from above was just staying there laughing, like, let's see if you can handle this. And I couldn't today.”

Reflecting on her comments, Sabalenka said she was upset after a physically and emotionally draining defeat and spoke out of frustration.

Since then, Sabalenka said she has apologized to Gauff.

"I was super emotional and not very smart at that press conference," Sabalenka added. "It took me a while to revisit it, to approach it with open eyes, and to understand. I realized a lot about myself. Why did I lose so many finals? I kept getting so emotional.

"So I learned a lot. Above all, one thing: I’m the one who always treats my opponents with great respect - whether I win or lose.

"Without that respect, I wouldn’t be where I am today. So it was a tough but very instructive lesson for me."

Swiatek on RG Loss: "I Think I Lost My Intensity"

Posted by on

The Pole says she let her tennis dip in the final set, and it cost her. Paris

By Chris Oddo | @TheFanChild | Friday June 6, 2025

Paris – Iga Swiatek’s remarkable 26-match winning streak came to an end on Thursday in Paris, as she fell to World No.1 Aryna Sabalenka in three sets.

Tennis Express

It was anybody’s match until Sabalenka ran away with the decider and handed Swiatek a taste of her own medicine – a bagel.

Swiatek says her intensity dropped every so slightly and that gave Sabalenka the window to crash through.

“I think I lost my intensity a bit, and she just played pretty strong, as in the first set, but I didn't react to that well and just couldn't push back,” she told reporters. “It's just me playing maybe, like, really five percent faster or with more spin.”

The Pole was bidding to become the first woman in Open Era history to win four consecutive titles at Roland-Garros, but she couldn’t handle the intensity and power of Sabalenka down the stretch. She drops to 40-3 lifetime on the terre battue of Paris in non-Olympic competitions.

Swiatek says that she didn’t drop her level a great deal, but it was enough to allow Sabalenka to thrive.

“It's not like a huge difference, but at this level when you play against the top players, you're going to feel the difference. She came on pretty strongly in the third set and just went for it, and then the set went pretty quickly.

“I think I didn't have much time to reset that again like I did at the beginning of the second set. I came back from, what, 4-1 or 3-1 or 3-0 in first. Doing that second time for sure would be hard, but she played, like she didn't doubt. She just went for it, and that's what I mean about intensity.

Swiatek flipped the script temporarily after falling behind early in the opening set. She was able to stretch rallies and play more on her terms late in the first and in the second. But credit Sabalenka for imposing herself ruthlessly in the decider. She didn’t make a single unforced error in the set.

She also flattened out her groundstrokes significantly, as she aimed to rush Swiatek at her baseline. TNT reported that her spin rate was down over 25 percent from her average in her first five matches. We’re thinking her analytics team played a role in Sabalenka’s tactics, but credit the Belarusian for having the capacity to make that significant change to her tactic.

“Especially at the beginning of the match, she played as hard as possible, and pretty risky,” Swiatek said. “So it was just hard to get into any rally. And then, I was able to do that, so the game wasn't just like serve and one shot or return and one shot, and I could build a rally a little bit. “But in the third set I feel like we kind of came back to what happened in the first, and she for sure used her chances, and I didn't really keep up what I was doing in the second set.”

Aryna Sabalenka: Quit Your Job

Posted by on

World No. 1 sends clear message to former coaches.Amanda Anisimova

By Richard Pagliaro | @Tennis_Now | Friday, May 30, 2025
Photo credit: Clive Brunskill/Getty

Tennis is an ongoing educational experience.

Today, Aryna Sabalenka schooled her skeptical teachers.

Tennis Express

World No. 1 Sabalenka tamed tricky lefty Olga Danilovic 6-2, 6-3 powering into the Roland Garros fourth round for the third straight year.

Three-time major champion Sabalenka, who improved to a Tour-best 37-6 in 2025, will face former French Open semifinalist Amanda Anisimova in a blockbuster fourth-round battle between two massive hitters.

Today, Sabalenka sent major message to coaches who slammed her as too “stupid” to make her mark as a pro: Quit your job.

Recalling junior coaches who questioned her mental strength, Sabalenka told those skeptics: You know nothing.

“I always been quite motivated and they didn’t have to push me,” Sabalenka said of her rise through the ranks. “But I have heard a lot [of coaches] saying I’m not smart enough, that I’m stupid, and I’ll never make it, and I don’t have anything to make it to the top.

“I guess I want to send a quick message to them to quit their job.

“Because honestly, I think they know nothing and they better quit just to save other players.”

Asked how she reacted to critical coaches claiming she was too witless to be a winner on the WTA Tour, Sabalenka said she laughed in their face.

“I was just laughing and saying: We’ll see,” Sabalenka said.

A sharp Sabalenka has surrendered just 10 games in three tournament wins this week.

Following her crushing conquest of Kamilla Rakhimova 6-1, 6-0 in her Roland Garros opener, Sabalenka shared her parents were never pushy about her career pursuit. However, the Belarusian said she saw demanding Eastern European coaches burn young players out.

“I definitely say that Eastern European school is very tough. I think that’s why whoever survive that school, they’re really tough,” Sabalenka said after round one.

On the one hand, Sabalenka said surviving her junior training made her a tougher competitor, but on the other hand she saw some fellow players broken by “brutal” coaches making punishing demands.

“I have to say that probably because of the environment and in the history of European countries, we are much tougher,” Sabalenka told the media in Paris. “Whoever got through the tough stuff, they, like, mentally and physically, they much stronger than probably, not like the rest of the world, but most of the girls on tour…

“I definitely think that the environment we have in our countries, which is like very tough and coaches are very brutal, you know, there is nothing nice about the way they, like, work with their players, they quite rude. I think that’s why maybe our mentality is much stronger, but also, the same time, they kind of like broke so many players because of that aggressive mindset.

“I think in Europe and the States, the environment is much healthier.”

 
Continuing her quest for a maiden Roland Garros crown, Sabalenka said she’s inspired by Grand Slam king Novak Djokovic still going strong at age 38 and was moved seeing the Big 4 reunite for Roland Garros’ royal celebration send off for King of Clay Rafael Nadal.

“Imagine if he gonna retire tomorrow, then everyone going to be sad, no? Don’t you think so?” Sabalanka said. “Then there is another like 10, 15 years to Jannik and Alcaraz to become one of the greatest. But just, you know, let him be.

“You know, it was so sad to see the ceremony, big four were on the court and you understand that three of them retired. Everyone missing their games.

“So let’s just let Novak to be there to show and fight and show his greatness and to inspire that generation.”

Top Shot: Anisimova Sets Up RG Showdown vs. No. 1 Sabalenka

Posted by on

No. 16-seeded Amanda Anisimova has topped Aryna Sabalenka in three of four clay meetings.Amanda Anisimova vs Aryna Sabalenka

By Richard Pagliaro | @Tennis_Now | Friday, May 30, 2025
Photo credit: Robert Prange/Getty

Amateur artist Amanda Anisimova is painting an inspiring clay comeback in Paris.

Anisimova defused Clara Tauson 7-6(4), 6-4 to charge into the Roland Garros fourth round for the first time since 2022.

Tennis Express

Ranked a career-high No. 16, Anisimova more than doubled the dangerous Tauson’s winner total—38 to 16—and broke serve three times.

Contesting her seventh Roland Garros, Anisimova set up a blockbuster rematch against world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka.

Earlier, Sabalenka tamed tricky lefty Olga Danilovic 6-2, 6-3 powering into the Roland Garros fourth round for the third straight year.

Three-time major champion Sabalenka has surrendered just 10 games in three tournament wins as she looks driven to collect her maiden Roland Garros title.

The 23-year-old Anisimova is 5-2 lifetime vs. Sabalenka, winning three of their four clay-court clashes.

The fourth-round match is a rematch of the 2019 Roland Garros that saw Anisimova sweep Sabalenka 6-3, 6-2. A then 17-year-old Anisimova electrified Paris that summer reaching the semifinals and taking a set from eventual-champion Ash Barty before bowing in three sets.

Controlling the center of the court—and playing proactive down the line drive will be two keys when Anisimova and Sabalenka square off for a quarterfinal spot.

“We’re both some pretty big hitters, so I’m sure we’re going to be going at it back and forth a bit,” Anisimova said. “Yeah, [she’s] obviously one of the best right now.

“She’s No. 1. I feel like it’s always a good matchup. I really enjoy the fight and the challenge that she brings on. I’m just looking forward to it. Hopefully I can bring my A game. Hopefully it will be a good match.”

Twelve Americans—seven women and five men—advanced to the Roland Garros third round. It’s only the second time since 1991 (14) that 12 or more Americans have reached the third round at the French Open.

Anisimova, who defeated 2017 French Open champion Jelena Ostapenko, to win the WTA 1000 title in Doha earlier this year, is enjoying her best season after suffering burn-out that compelled her to step away from the sport and pursue her love of art.

Tennis had become “unbearable” for her after experiencing burn-out since the summer of 2022, said Anisimova.

“I wasn’t really feeling great in October of 2022 I think,” Anisimova said. “So it was quite a while. It took a long time for me to make that decision. Obviously it’s a big decision to step away from the game I think at any point.

“It doesn’t matter if it’s in the middle of the season or the preseason because we really never get time off.”

These days, Anisimova seems to be enjoying herself more on court and has managed her schedule to give herself more mental breaks.

You can trace Anisimova’s current joy ride back to last August.

Crunching shots with conviction, Anisimova surprised second-seeded Sabalenka 6-4, 6-2 to advance to her maiden WTA 1000 semifinal in Toronto—her first Tour-level semifinal since 2022 Charleston. World No. 139 Anisimova became the lowest-ranked woman to reach the Canadian Open semifinals since then No. 937 Sloane Stephens in 2017 and has continued to soar since.

Expect the balls to be bruised when supreme shotmakers and explosive power players face off.

Interestingly, Anisimova has scored all three of her straight sets wins this week on the cozy confines of Court 14 where she’s enjoyed strong support.

Facing world No. 1 Sabalenka, likely on Court Philippe Chatrier, gives Anisimova a chance to showcase her game on the biggest red clay stage in the sport.

“It’s always special to play someone who’s ranked No. 1 in the world. It’s not often you get to do that, so I really try and embrace the opportunity and the experience,” Anisimova said. “It will be on a big court, too. I love playing on big stadiums.

“I’m just going to try and go in there and really enjoy the atmosphere and enjoy the crowd. And, yeah, try to put up a fight.

“I’d say it’s always a little bit more different and special when you play against the top players.”