Aryna Sabalenka has spoken about playing rivals Iga Swiatek and Elena Rybakina at the World Tennis League in Abu Dhabi.
The world No. 2 has been competing at the tournament, as she and all the other players involved in the event seek to get themselves prepared for the new season with some important match practice.
Playing against other top players is the perfect preparation for a new year. Sabalenka has done just that with high-quality encounters against world No. 1 Swiatek and former Wimbledon champion Rybakina.
Sabalenka triumphed against Swiatek 6-4 in their clash, with both women hitting a series of terrific shots. The Australian Open champion also defeated Rybakina twice at the event, impressing in both encounters.
The Belarusian was rightly happy with her performances in both matches. However, she was also complimentary of the level produced by her rivals in an interview with Gulf News, which led to very entertaining tennis for the fans to enjoy.
“I think we played really great tennis, great level and it’s really great to have these matches ahead of the new season.”
Players are usually more interested in their own level than the result in these pre-season matches. For instance, losing a high-quality contest would be preferable to winning a bad one, although Sabalenka managed to play well and win.
Admittedly, the matches at the World Tennis League were not best-of-three sets, like at Grand Slams and on the WTA Tour. However, Sabalenka was still positive about the impact of such encounters.
“We had a lot of great matches against each other. Honestly, we didn’t play the full match, but played just a set. Of course, it’s really good to have these kind of matches before going into the next season.”
These matches have given Sabalenka a great platform heading into 2024. She will hope it can give her the boost she needs for her Australian Open defence.
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