The Times of India at Roland Garros: Aryna Sabalenka's power is always delineated as the reason for her dominance on the women's tour. Not enough is said about the statuesque Belarusian's fight, the axis on which her blitzkrieg serve and strokes pivot.
Coco Gauff, in her second French Open final, where on Saturday she'll take on Sabalenka for the Coupe Suzanne Lenglen, succinctly summed up her opponent's supremacy – strokes, serve and mentality.
Go Beyond The Boundary with our YouTube channel. SUBSCRIBE NOW!“She can come up with big shots, big winners (anywhere) on the court,” the world No. 2 said. “Also her mentality, she's a fighter. She's going to stay in the match regardless of the score.”
While the 21-year-old American is no stranger to pressure, having played with the weight of expectations for most of her pro career, Sabalenka relishes it. She enjoys being No. 1, and having the target on her back. It's when she flies.
The top ranked duo on the WTA Tour — one who arrived on the scene as a teenage prodigy while the other a relatively late bloomer — have split their matches, five apiece. Of their last four meetings, from January 2024, Sabalenka has won three, including the most-recent encounter in Madrid on clay.
The 27-year-old's temperament has been tested on and off the court, she has had to deal with serious issues, the most heart-breaking of which was the sudden demise of her father Sergey, in 2019 at the age of 43. A couple of years later she had technical issues with her serve. For much of the 2022 season in which she sent down 428 double faults in 55 matches, Sabalenka was in agony. She had thought the problem with her serve was mental, but was finally able to pin it on biomechanics. Sabalenka didn't take time off to iron the chinks, she played through the storm.
“Trying to go for my shots, be aggressive,” Gauff said, would be key to the final. “Obviously she has great big shots, she's going to come out aggressive. I have to do my best to counter that. We've had some up-and-down matches (in the past), some that I won in straight sets and vice versa. Anything can happen on Saturday, I'm looking forward to it, and glad to be going up against the World No. 1.”
While there isn't much separating the No. 1 and 2 ranked players on service speeds, 197 and 195 kmph, Gauff, who leads the field on double faults, 33 in her six matches, was broken 18 times in the tournament while Sabalenka with 12 double faults has been broken 12 times. If there's a stat that could prove decisive in the final, that's the one.
Sabalenka, in her sixth major final, the first one in a non-hard court Grand Slam, said clay has been her biggest challenge among surfaces. “My whole life I've been told, it (clay) is not my thing, then I didn't have any confidence,” the three-time major winner said. “We've (the team) been able to develop my game so much (over the years), I feel really comfortable (now) on this surface and actually enjoy playing on clay.”
While Sabalenka is playing her eighth French Open, the American, who also made finals in Madrid and Rome, is in her sixth.
“For the clay, I got much better physically. It's really important to be physically strong and ready to work for each point on clay. I have more variety on the shots,” Sabalenka said.
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