Aryna Sabalenka hails ‘legends’ Djokovic, Wawrinka, & Cilic as she discusses how long she will compete
WTA world No 1 Aryna Sabalenka has hailed “GOATS” Novak Djokovic, Stan Wawrinka, and Marin Cilic after the trio made strong starts to their 2026 Australian Open campaigns.
Grand Slam champions Djokovic, Wawrinka, and Cilic are among the oldest players competing in men’s tennis right now, though they have all reached the third round of the opening Grand Slam of the year in impressive fashion.
Thirty-eight year-old Djokovic, who is the only player older than 30 in the top twenty of the ATP Rankings, has not dropped a set in Melbourne, with the 24-time Grand Slam champion breezing past both Pedro Martinez and Francesco Maestrelli in his first two matches.
It is a similar story for former US Open champion and world No 70 Cilic, with the 37-year-old storming past Daniel Altmaier in round one, before shocking 21st seed Denis Shapovalov in round two.
Meanwhile, three-time Grand Slam champion Wawrinka — who is making his last Australian Open appearance — has produced two battling victories so far, seeing off Laslo Djere in four sets before beating French qualifier Arthur Gea in a fifth-set tiebreak.
Victory for Wawrinka over Gea saw him contest a record 49th five-set match at a Grand Slam event, and saw the 40-year-old physically outlast an opponent almost two decades younger than him.
The efforts of Djokovic, Cilic, and Wawrinka have rightly attracted huge praise and attention, and WTA Tour star Sabalenka is the latest to celebrate them.
Speaking in her press conference after her third-round win over Anastasia Potapova on Friday, the four-time Grand Slam champion celebrated all three ATP Tour stars — particularly Djokovic, with whom she shares a close friendship.
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“These guys are legends, GOATs, especially Novak,” said Sabalenka.
“He’s been developing his game his whole career. Right now, he’s really relevant with young boys. He’s playing incredible tennis.
“I feel like it depends on your physicality, of course, mentality, your approach to tennis. He’s very healthy, fit. He’s really focused. Yeah, at this age he’s playing incredible tennis.
“I feel like there is no age anymore in sport. It depends how you approach everything and if you have a smart team around you. I feel your career can be extended for I don’t know how many years.”
Aged 27, four-time Grand Slam singles champion Sabalenka is arguably in the prime of her career and is the favourite to lift the women’s singles title at the Australian Open this year.
The Belarusian could well have a decade left of her career should she wish, though she revealed that she is not too focused on her long-term plans.
However, the world No 1 also revealed that she would love to return to action after potentially becoming a mother, most likely in her early thirties.
She added: “I’m not sure. I cannot say anything because you never know. You don’t know what’s waiting for you tomorrow. Ideally, for me, I would love to, I don’t know, maybe have kids at 32 or something.
“But knowing me, I know that I love to accept tough challenges, so I feel like even after having kid, I would love to challenge myself, like coming back and see if I still have it, just to challenge myself.
“So probably we’re going to see me being that grandma on tour trying. Hopefully I’ll be pushing these young girls. Let’s talk about that in 10 years. That’s a long time.”
Djokovic, Wawrinka, and Cilic will all return to men’s singles action on Saturday, with the trio looking to reach the fourth round of the event.
Fourth seed Djokovic will be the heavy favourite when he takes to court against world No 75 Botic van de Zandschulp, though the Dutchman did beat the former world No 1 in Indian Wells last year.
However, Cilic and Wawrinka face tougher tests on paper, with the Croatian set to battle 12th seed Casper Ruud, and the Swiss set to face ninth seed Taylor Fritz.
Sabalenka will return to women’s singles action on Sunday, when she faces rising star Victoria Mboko for a place in the quarter-final of the event.
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