Aryna Sabalenka has made tremendous progress this year establishing herself as one of the best players in the world.
It started pretty early on in the season with the Australian Open run and trophy proving something she described as the best day of her life. It's not a surprise because she has been working a long time towards that goal coming up short more than once.
It completely transformed her as a player as she became much more confident in her tennis and it was easily detectable on the court. A final in Indian Wells, a Madrid Open trophy that came thanks to a win over Swiatek and a really strong belief ahead of Roland Garros.
She has a chance to become world number one with a good run in Paris, especially if she is able to make the final or possibly win the event. It's not something she focuses on because it kind of distracts her from focusing on her tennis but the opportunity is there.
I'm not focusing on that. Because every time I'm focusing on something like that, like points, ranking, results, and I'm not playing my best. So I'm trying to focus on myself, on my game, and make sure I bring my best tennis and then we will see after these couple of weeks what gonna happen.
Getting there will take some more work as Paris hasn't been the best even for her in the past. She's yet to advance past the 3rd round at Roland Garros and with an emotional matchup against Kostyuk looming in R1, it will take a serious effort to get through it. She's ready to be number one though when asked, believing herself good enough to justify that ranking.
I think yes (smiling). I don't know. Yes, I think so. I think I improved a lot, and I have everything to be No. 1. But again, I don't want to focus on that. I just want to focus on my game, and I just want to bring my best game every time on the court, and after the season we'll see if I'm ready or not.
0 Comments