Kim Clijsters dropped some major praise on Aryna Sabalenka following the Belarusian’s latest huge success, saying her power and strength resembles the one that Serena Williams had.
Since the start of 2023, the current world No. 2 has been an absolute menace in hard-court Grand Slam events, having made back-to-back finals in each of the last two Australian Open and US Open editions.
After successfully defending her Australian Open title earlier this year without a lost set, the 26-year-old also became a winner at Flushing Meadows this past weekend after completing her run with just one dropped set in seven matches played.
In all of her matches played in New York, Sabalenka was going for her shots and trying to dictate everything out there. And while the now three-time Major winner made some mistakes and unforced errors, her game for the most part clicked extremely well and she ended up winning it all after firing 40 winners in the final and beating Jessica Pegula 7-5 7-5.
“Her strength is her consistency, she has the consistency to break someone down mentally as well, and Sabalenka was too strong. [Pegula’s] strength is to try to keep the ball as low over the net and as deep as possible, and she has to have the chance to do that. Against Sabalenka, the first two shots of the rally, the return and the serve, are just too strong and she beats her to it,” Clijsters said on the Served with Andy Roddick podcast.
In the second set, Sabalenka went from 3-1 up to being 3-5 down after going on a spree of unforced errors. But just when it seemed that Pegula had all the momentum and the final was destined to go three sets, the second-seeded Belarusian flipped the switch – started playing very well again – and got the job done in two sets after winning the next four games.
“To keep shooting your shot even after missing 17 balls in the last 12 minutes is a skill that I didn’t have. If I’m missing, I’m losing confidence. How you commit to going back there, deleting all the stress and going and shooting again is crazy,” Roddick said, via tennis.com.
Responding to the 2003 US Open champion’s comment, Clijsters added: “Just like Serena, she has the ability to step up when needed.”
Clijsters: I’m not saying Sabalenka is as great as Williams, but her power…
As mentioned above, the Belarusian tennis star’s game is extremely difficult to cope with on faster surfaces, even for the best players on the Tour. But after comparing the the 26-year-old to Williams, the former four-time Grand Slam champion underlined that she meant in the power department and not overall.
“I’m not saying she’s as good or as great, and the movement’s not the same. The consistency of serve is not the same. But as far as just style-wise, where you’re constantly having to deal with the power is her closest comp is Serena Williams… You just feel like every shot that you hit, you have to do something with it and that becomes a little overwhelming but being able to move well, I think Jess was able to really kind of bring her down at certain points!” Clijsters said.
Roddick loves Sabalenka’s personality
On the court, the world No. 2 shows a lot of passion and emotion and it is not a secret that she can also get very annoyed and frustrated with herself. But also, she is one of the most joyful players on the WTA Tour and smiles and jokes a lot.
For Roddick, it is a perfect combination since Sabalenka evidently knows to be serious when it is needed and be a hard worker but at the same time she has figured out how to make it all enjoyable.
“There are so many different ways to get to greatness. I always use the example, what if someone tried to coach the volley technique out of McEnroe? What if someone tried to coach the Vamos finish from Rafa? What if someone coached those things out of them because they weren’t accepted at the time? What if someone coached out the ability to create friction for Novak? You have to commit to who you are and find your best process, it’s not one-size fits all,” Roddick explained.
“Look at Roger, Rafa, Novak, Serena. You could not have four more different personalities. With Sabalenka, I appreciate the different process. And hers looks fun. And she dives in afterwards and has a smile. It’s like she’s down for a joke but also committed to improvement, it seems like she has a great balance…I wish I had a little more Sabalenka.”
Leave a Reply