Indian Wells tournament director Tommy Haas recently skipped over Iga Swiatek in favour of Aryna Sabalenka as the favourite for the WTA 1000 event.
As a former ATP player, Tommy Haas certainly follows and knows tennis very well, especially in his position as a tournament director. He's also quite familiar with Iga Swiatek because he was her win the trophy before as the Polish player triumphed in Indian Wells.
Aryna Sabalenka never triumphed in Indian Wells but she did play rather well last year losing to champion Elena Rybakina in the final. Rybakina was also the player who beat Swiatkek last year, but Haas did not mention either when he was asked by Eurosport who could win the event.
In the mind of the German, Sabalenka is the player to watch out for this time around because of the way she played Down Under. She defended her trophy at the Australian Open and looked really sharp.
On the other hand, in her first tournament since the Australian Open, the Belarusian lost already in her opening match, and is coming to Indian Wells without much match practice.
"On the women’s side, Sabalenka, you know, she has such a big, powerful game. Gives her a little bit more time sometimes in Indian Wells too. But she moves well, she’s feeling obviously very, very good about her game — defending her title at the Australian Open. So I kind of give her the edge also going in, no matter what happens the next couple of weeks."
It's an interesting comment by Haas because he named Sabalenka only instead of listing a few players capable of going all the way.
The exclusion of former champion Iga Swiatek was particularly interesting, and especially on the women's side, there are many players like Elena Rybakina and Coco Gauff who could win the title.
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