Aryna Sabalenka suggests change to Grand Slam schedule: ‘probably would be a little better’
Aryna Sabalenka has claimed it would “probably be a little better” if there was a shorter gap between the Australian Open and French Open.
World No 1 Sabalenka is a two-time champion in Melbourne, and was also the 2025 runner-up at the event, while she is a former Roland Garros semi-finalist.
Currently, there is almost a four-month gap between the conclusion of the Australian Open, which ends in late January or early February, and the start of the French Open in late May.
That is the biggest gap in the calendar between majors, with just three weeks between the French Open and Wimbledon, and a month and a half between Wimbledon and the US Open.
WTA players face six WTA 1000 events in that period, including two sets of back-to-back two-week tournaments in Indian Wells and Miami, and then in Madrid and Rome.
That is preceded by one-week events in Doha and Dubai, a swing across which the world No 1 won just one match this year.
Sabalenka was asked in Indian Wells if it was tough for players to compete in February and March, with no Grand Slam tournament imminent.
And, while she claimed it was “not that tough”, she did suggest a change to the timings between the Australian Open, French Open, and Wimbledon would be beneficial.
She said: “I’d say that Indian Wells feels like a Grand Slam, and back to back Indian Wells and Miami. I love this tournament. For me, [it] feels pretty big. Psychologically, I think it’s not that tough.
“Middle East, especially if you play really well in Australia and you win a Grand Slam there or you make a final, you just need a little bit more time to recover, to have some time off, to have a good preparation.
“And for the last three seasons I’d say that Middle East was pretty tough for me, physically and mentally both.
“But March is good, and then there is Rome, Madrid, like beautiful tournaments. I don’t know. I’m not thinking about [it], I just love playing in those cities – and the atmosphere is great.
“But if they would probably put it a little bit closer, like, and give us a little bit more time in between Roland Garros and Wimbledon, it probably would be a little bit better. But, I mean, it is how it is.”
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Sabalenka was speaking after an encouraging start to her Indian Wells campaign, which saw her beat in-form American McCartney Kessler 7-6(4), 6-3 to reach the third round.
It was arguably her best performance since her Australian Open final loss to Madison Keys and the Belarusian’s draw has opened up nicely.
The 2023 Indian Wells runner-up will next face Lucia Bronzetti, who defeated 30th seed Magdalena Frech on Saturday.
And Sabalenka would not face a seed in the fourth round should she progress, with 20th seed Ekaterina Alexandrova and 16th seed Beatriz Haddad Maia both already out.
Sabalenka is projected to face third seed Coco Gauff in the last four – before a potential final against two-time tournament champion and world No 2 Iga Swiatek.
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