Aryna Sabalenka will have a crucial advantage over rival Iga Swiatek at the 2024 US Open, according to Martina Navratilova.
The World No. 1 and No. 2 players on the WTA Tour will enter the last major of the season as the top favorites. Coco Gauff is the defending champion, but her form has been far from good, which makes the two highest-ranked players overwhelming favorites.
Their journey to the Flushing Meadows was different. While Swiatek chose to play at the Paris Olympics, miss the Canadian Open, and compete in Cincinnati, her Belarusian rival chose to skip the Olympic Games and play at the Citi Open in Washington, followed by the Canadian Open and the Cincinnati Open.
In the draw for the 2024 US Open, they are on opposite sides, and both will start against players who went through qualifying. While Sabalenka will play against a successful qualifier, Priscilla Hon, the Polish player will take on a lucky loser, Kamilla Rakhimova.
Ahead of the tournament, Martina Navratilova previewed it for the WTA, and she assessed Swiatek's chances, saying that only Sabalenka has the ability to "hit her off the court."
"I mean, for Iga, the only person who can really hit her off the court is Sabalenka. Rybakina, maybe on grass, but not on hard courts. Iga’s forehand on the hard court really pays off, so that levels the playing field against Rybakina."
However, the former World No. 1 also explained why it's the Polish player who has the best chances of beating Sabalenka, as she has all the tools necessary to do that.
"Against Sabalenka, Iga has better tools to deal with her, to neutralize her, than anybody else. She’s been working on her serve, getting more free points on that."
Still, the World No. 1 will enter the 2024 US Open after one of the biggest heartbreaks in her tennis career, having lost to Qinwen Zheng in the semi-finals of the 2024 Paris Olympics. But the American legend doesn't think it will play a role.
"I think the Olympics was just way too much pressure because she was such a favorite on the clay, and that can play games with your brain. So I wouldn’t worry about the Olympic result that much."
Still, when asked about whether Sabalenka was the favorite entering the last major of the 2024 season, Navratilova thought that she was, given her hard-court qualities and results.
"Yup. For sure. Last year’s final might have been the worst match Sabalenka’s played in any big match, and she will have learned her lesson -- and will be extremely motivated. She still has some confidence from getting to the finals, winning the Australian Open and Cincinnati."
On top of that, the 67-year-old thinks that Sabalenka has one crucial advantage over Swiatek, and that is having skipped the Paris Olympics, which will make her much more fresh than everyone else in the draw.
"She’s fit -- and I think a key factor is that she didn’t play the Olympics. So she’s fresher than everybody else. No scar tissue from Paris. Swiatek expended that energy, and so did Zheng Qinwen. Sabalenka will be chomping at the bit, for sure."
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