Aryna Sabalenka has won three Grand Slam trophies in her career, all of them on hard courts, but she’s a threat on any surface, according to former WTA player Martina Navratilova.
A couple of years ago, the Belarusian was considered a player who could win some Grand Slam trophies, but up until that point, she hadn’t done it in singles despite having major success in doubles.
Sabalenka never found the necessary level, always coming up short. Sometimes, it was because of her baseline play. Other times, it was her serve, but on occasion, it was her simply not being mentally strong enough.
She’s admitted to this herself, especially now after having won a few. She is open about not being ready to win in the past, which is likely true. Now that she’s ready, she’s seemingly winning one major after another.
Last year, she lifted her first Grand Slam at the Australian Open, and this year she claimed her second and third. Her most recent triumph came at the US Open. All three of her Grand Slam trophies came on hard courts, but that doesn’t mean she’s a specialist.
The Belarusian has played superb tennis across all surfaces, and former player Martina Navratilova certainly sees her as a threat to win on both grass and clay.
"She’s the best hard-court player and she’s catching up to Iga Swiatek on the rankings so we’ll see who ends up as world No 1 at the end of the year. I think mathematically it’s still possible for Sabalenka to get there by the end of the year and so she should because she’s won two majors."
As with most tennis players, Sabalenka has strengths and weaknesses, which make her a better fit on some surfaces than others. She’s best suited to dominate on hard courts, which she’s done.
On top of that, she’s also very capable of playing on clay courts and even playing on grass. Sabalenka has performed well on every surface in the past. She’s improved so much as a player that her level doesn't fluctuate so much even with the change of surfaces.
She’s good on all of them, and now it’s just about delivering across the board. That’s the next step, even though Navratilova also singled out a few things that the World No. 2 can improve upon as a player.
"I feel as though she has improved every aspect of her game, incrementally and as a whole. I think she can improve her transition game and come to the net more. She’s so big at the net so it’s hard to go through her."
"You can’t go over her, so I would like to see that transition. The slice backhand is where she can improve the most, come in on that, particularly on the grass. If she adds that variety to her game and work on the drop shot then yep."
Sabalenka has no shortage of motivation, so she will certainly do the work needed to become an even better player. Now that she’s finally cracked the code, she’ll only want to win more — and she likely will.
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