Aryna Sabalenka might not be world number one right now, but the Belarusian is certainly the player to beat, according to former player Tim Henman.
Sabalenka has had an interesting time on the tennis courts in the past 18 months because she became one of the most consistent players on the WTA Tour. There was very little that was consistent in her game in the previous year, but it all started to work in the last year and more after she won the 2023 Australian Open.
She failed to add another Grand Slam trophy, but she certainly came close a few times, most notably at the US Open. She finally won her second at this year's Australian Open, and while it didn't get her back to world number one, Sabalenka is the player to beat in the coming weeks, according to Tim Henman.
He talked to Sky Sports News about the state of the WTA Tour and singled out Sabalenka as the peak player right now, especially with the Australian Open in the bag.
"Sabalenka might not be the No 1 in the world but she is the player to beatIga Swiatek has had amazing results and she deserves to be No 1 in the world but with the momentum and confidence Sabalenka has, it’s going to take an amazing performance to beat her."
It's interesting to see why Henman favors Sabalenka over Iga Swiatek. Generally, the Polish player was able to outplay Sabalenka in direct matches. The Belarusian has had better results overall recently, so Henman clearly favors that type of momentum to push her forward.
There are certainly many big events coming up before the season moves to clay, where Swiatek will likely be considered the overwhelming favorite. We'll see what happens, but it's clearly a rivalry to follow in the coming years.
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