Aryna Sabalenka’s world number one ranking will be on the line at the WTA 1000 tournament in Toronto, where the Belarusian star aims to extend her hard court dominance in the build up to her US Open title defense. Sabalenka has won 23 of her 24 hard court matches this year, the lone defeat her loss to Elena Rybakina in the Australian Open final. But she was turfed out in the quarter-finals on the clay of Roland Garros and fell to Naomi Osaka in the round of 16 on the grass courts of Wimbledon.
“I was trying a couple of things, didn’t go the way that I expected. And now we’re kind of back to basics and I really hope it’s going to work out well. “I spent there five, six days maybe. I felt much better, I couldn’t wait to get back on court and start working towards my goals for this swing.”
Sabalenka has never made it past the semi-finals in Canada, which alternates each year between Montreal and Toronto, but she said she was feeling rested and ready to reassert herself after taking time off in the wake of her All England Club exit. “Clay and grass, I wouldn’t say they were that bad,” she said. “I think the rest was much-needed,” she told reporters on Sunday.
Sabalenka said the scheduling is “tricky” for any player that does well in the grass court season, with the Canadian tournaments followed by a 1000-level event in Cincinnati in a schedule that offers little respite before the US Open begins on August 30. “If you go far at the grass court (season) you feel really fatigued and you’re not able to pull out any good tennis so what’s the reason of coming when your body is really so much stress,” she said. “It’s very tricky, but this year I didn’t do well so I’m here.”
