Elena Rybakina explained whether it's more difficult for her to play against Aryna Sabalenka or Iga Swiatek.
The top three women's players are, for the most part, Swiatek, Sabalenka, and Rybakina. These three have been consistent performers for over a year, with Coco Gauff a close fourth behind them.
The Kazakhstani player has battled both the Pole and the Belarusian this year and last year, winning a lot of those matches. She's actually done quite well against them.
She beat Sabalenka in a final earlier this year in Australia, and quite convincingly so. She beat Swiatek at the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix not too long ago, so she certainly knows how to play both of them recently.
Asked who her tougher opponent was ahead of the 2024 Roland Garros, Rybakina admitted that it was Sabalenka, which shouldn't be a huge surprise. The world no. 2 is a tough player to play against, and even Swiatek has plenty of trouble with her.
"Well, I would say Aryna. We play a lot of tough matches, and she's very aggressive. She has good power. And with Iga I feel like I have more dominant in the, just, game by my power over Iga.. With Aryna, it's tougher."
It's interesting how matchups in tennis work. Rybakina does pretty well against Swiatek, but then the Polish player does decently against Sabalenka, while the Belarusian gives Rybakina some decent trouble.
It's just very interesting to see how that plays out in real time, but it makes sense. It also depends on the surface because Rybakina doesn't do well against Swiatek on a typical clay court.
She bested her in Stuttgart, which is an indoor court, which makes Rybakina much better than Swiatek. In Paris, on the other hand, the Polish player should have the biggest advantage.
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