Aryna Sabalenka accused of ‘beating herself’ as she is urged to find solutions
Aryna Sabalenka ended 2025 on a high as she was crowned as US Open champion, but the world No 1 will still have looked back on the year with plenty of regrets.
She came up short in tight finals against Madison Keys and Coco Gauff at the Australian Open and French Open and was beaten by Amanda Anisimova in a close contest in the Wimbledon semi-finals.
She also lost some tight matches at the latter stages of WTA 1000 events and in the opinion of former WTA Tour player turned commentator Naomi Cavaday, Sabalenka needs to look in the mirror when assessing why she lost those matches.
The Belarusian will look to get her first title on the board for 2026 at the Indian Wells Open over the next couple of weeks, with Cavaday convinced she is the player to beat if she finds her best form.
“Reflecting on 2025, I think she could have won all the Slams,” Cavaday told Tennis365 in an exclusive interview at a Sky Sports Tennis event.
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“ She sort of beat herself a lot of the time, but there are issues at the top of the game. Coco Gauff still has issues with her serve and there appears to be some unrest in Iga Swiatek’s camp that seem to be unsettling her.
“That’s why I’m expecting this year to be the year that Sabalenka has a lot of big wins. We use that word dominate a lot, but I’m expecting her to be out and out favourite because she really is the best player.
“Last year, I think being world No 1 got in her head quite a lot in those big moments, but I think she’s come out of the other side of that. So yeah, I do see it being a big year for Sabalenka.
“Elena Rybakina is back in force and it has such a massive game and can beat her on her day, but I don’t think she’ll threaten in terms of the rankings. Just, I just can’t see her being as consistent, while Sabelenka’s record at Slams is a joke. She is just there every single time, in the semi-finals as a minimum.”
Cavaday believes the toughest challenge for Sabalenka will come on grass courts at Wimbledon, with the surface offering her challenges she may struggle to overcome.
“I think the grass is probably the surface Sabalenka will struggle on the most,” she added. “I think there’s a lot pressure on her for the grass because everybody assumes she’s such a big hitter, but she’s a hitter who does her fairly big wind up and quite needs a bit of time. So the low bounce on grass is a problem.
“We are back in the big hitting era. I thought it was changing with Ons Jabeur getting into the top ten and Marketa Vondrousova winning Wimbledon that the hand skills and invention was back, but we are right back into the big hitters winning the big tournaments again.”
Sabalenka has a commanding lead at the top of the WTA Rankings and she will be keen to cement her status as the woman to beat at this year’s Indian Wells Open.
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