Sabalenka Shocks By Downplaying WTA 1000 Events In Doha And Dubai As 'Preparation'
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Aryna Sabalenka will be one of the top favorites to win the 2025 Qatar Open in Doha and the 2025 Dubai Championships, but she surprisingly downplayed both events as only a preparation.
Sabalenka has been probably the best hardcourt player on the WTA Tour in the past few years. She has played in all of the last five hardcourt Grand Slam finals, having won three of them.
On top of that, she reached at least the semi-finals at seven of the last eight hardcourt majors. She has also won the Cincinnati Open and the Wuhan Open, which are both WTA 1000 events.
Now, the Belarusian player is set to compete at the 2025 Qatar Open in Doha, which runs from February 9th until 15th. She has a first-round bye and will start against Ekaterina Alexandrova in the second round of the tournament.
This will be Sabalenka's first tournament since she lost in the Australian Open final. However, she doesn't have high expectations of the events in Doha and Dubai.
Despite Madison Keys, who is the only player who managed to beat Sabalenka this year, not being at these events, the Belarusian tried to deflect any pressure prior to the events.
The WTA World No. 1 player chose to speak about the schedule ahead of the event in Qatar. Previously, the Qatar Open and the Dubai Championships alternated between being WTA 1000 and WTA 500 events, which meant that there was only one WTA 1000 tournament in February.
That is not the case anymore, and now, players have a Grand Slam in January, two WTA 1000s in February, and two more WTA 1000s in March. That is more than in the years prior, and that's also maybe something that changed Sabalenka's mindset.
The 26-year-old player spoke to the press in Doha ahead of the tournament, and she admitted that having these two WTA 1000 events so close to the Australian Open made it difficult for her to prepare.
"The schedule is actually pretty tough, especially if you make it to the last stage of the Australian Open, then you don't have much time to recover and prepare yourself for these big events.
Although Sabalenka will be one of the top favorites to win both tournaments, she surprised by saying that she sees these tournaments only as a preparation for the Sunshine Double (Indian Wells and Miami).
"I believe I'll just take these two tournaments as a preparation for the Sunshine one, and I'll try to build my tennis, and probably take my tennis to the next level in these two events."
It's not surprising when some players treat some tournaments as preparation, especially prior to Grand Slams. However, this is a different situation.
All four events (Doha, Dubai, Indian Wells, Miami) are WTA 1000 tournaments, so it's a bit surprising that the World No. 1 would prioritize some over others.
