Aryna Sabalenka on ‘accept, learn, and move on’ mantra, Swiatek's struggles and improving on clay courts

Not long after she clinched her third Madrid Open title on Saturday, Aryna Sabalenka and her team were already thinking about the next tournament in Rome.

The world No 1 is having a dominant – and in some ways underrated – season so far.

Sabalenka was not able to defend her Australian Open title in January, falling to Madison Keys in a close three-set final, but a look at her year overall tells the story of a woman on a mission.

The Belarusian has reached six finals from eight tournaments contested in 2025. She has won three of those finals – in Brisbane, Miami, and Madrid – and leads the WTA tour with 31 victories this campaign.

Sabalenka’s points total this week stands at 11,118, which, according to the WTA website, makes her only the third woman to collect more than 11,000 points, joining world No 2 Iga Swiatek and retired legend Serena Williams in that elite club.

Over 4,300 points separate Sabalenka from Swiatek at the top of the rankings – the widest gap Sabalenka has built over her rival during her 37-week stay at No 1 (across two stints).

Sabalenka replaced Swiatek at the summit for a second time last November, aided by the Pole’s provisional suspension over a failed anti-doping test that ruled Swiatek out of the Asian swing.

Winning three of her last five tournaments of the 2024 season – including the US Open – put Sabalenka in a strong position heading into 2025 and the 27-year-old has the chance to extend her lead even further as Swiatek attempts to defend her crowns in Rome and Roland Garros these next few weeks.

“So far this season has been super nice to me,” Sabalenka said in Madrid. So what’s been the key to her consistency this year?

“Every time I'm coming to a tournament, I'm not thinking about the previous one. I'm like, ‘OK, whatever, we leave it there’.

“I'm happy, we celebrate, but then I leave it there behind and I start everything over again,” she explained.

“That's been working really well, and I'm not staying too long in success, and also I'm not staying in some of the tough losses. Like short memory, I believe that's the key.”

That short-term memory has certainly served her well in dealing with her loss to Keys in Melbourne.

In Rome on Tuesday, after she celebrated her Madrid triumph and her 27th birthday, Sabalenka was asked about handling the highs and lows of going 3-3 in finals this season.

“Some of the finals I lost were really heartbreaking and were really tough to accept.

“At the same time, I understand that sometimes you just have to learn and sometimes you're not that good on court, you just have to accept, learn from that loss, and come back stronger,” said the three-time Grand Slam champion.

“What I'm actually proud of is that I was able to come back to those finals and I was able to change things and see if the lesson was learnt, try to bring better tennis in the next final.”

Sabalenka’s team, spearheaded by her coach Anton Dubrov, have been fostering this attitude of ‘accept, learn, and move on’ and it has been paying off.

Dubrov is proud of Sabalenka’s consistency but emphasises the need to keep improving to stave off the chasing pack.

“What we like better is the way she's, right now, recharging and ready for the next tournament,” Dubrov told The National in Madrid shortly after Sabalenka won the final.

“That was our bigger goal before, is to make her be ready even if she's not at her peak, but she still can compete and be, not just a fighter, but also find a way to win. So this year has shown that she can do it.

“For us, the next step is how we can improve it. Because she is right now the leader of the WTA Race, in the ranking. So, everyone's going to chase her. Everyone's going to play, not just the best, but they will have nothing to lose.

“They're going to go bigger and bigger. So, we have to keep this gap, to keep our level even higher from all the perspectives.”

Sabalenka’s game is built around her power. She was asked by a journalist in Madrid if she ever faced anyone that hit the ball harder than her. She laughed and said she didn’t know, before naming an ATP player.

“Maybe when I was practising with the guys. I practice with [Andrey] Rublev, that was really intense. I was done in five minutes. But sometimes power is not the key. You can hit really hard but not in the right target,” she noted.

Sabalenka has been working on adding variety to her game and she could be seen in recent matches throwing in a drop shot or a slice here and there.

She says she’s feeling more confident in her touch, and is “trying” to approach the net more and finish off points up front when she can.

Dubrov believes there is a lot of room for growth in that department. “We know that everyone is getting to know us more because she's playing a lot of matches, so, everyone will recognise, OK, she's doing more drop shots he added. “So, right now, OK, what can we do after it? What we can do more? What else?”

“How we can we, not just trick the opponent, but how can we create the point with structure, not just randomly hit a drop shot. If you will find where you can improve for, like, one or two per cent, it's already a huge success.”

The good news is that Sabalenka has said she is feeling “super motivated right now” on the heels for her latest title run, irrespective of how big of a lead she has on her closest rival in the rankings.

Swiatek has reached the quarter-finals or better at every tournament she has played this season, but by her own incredibly high standards, 2025 hasn’t been as kind to her as she would have hoped.

Still searching for a first title of the year, Swiatek is at a much bigger risk of losing her No 2 ranking to Coco Gauff than she is off closing the gap on Sabalenka.

None of that is affecting the mindset of Sabalenka, who has no doubt Swiatek – a five-time major winner – will find her groove sooner or later. She assures she doesn’t need anyone breathing down her neck in order to feel motivated at the top.

“Honestly, I think I'm able to find that push inside of myself,” said Sabalenka. “It's not like I'm having the easiest matches all the time, like all of them can really push me to work really hard for each point.

“Anyway, whenever I play out there, there is like a fight and I have to overcome some things, and I'm pushing myself really hard in some of the matches.

“Now probably Iga is not doing well, which is absolutely fine, and I know that she's going to come back.

“I'm just working for the future, trying to improve my game as much as I can, just so I'm ready for whoever is going to bring the challenge on court.”

Dubrov is the first to point out that historically, Swiatek’s statistics are unrivalled on clay and the world No 2 should never be underestimated.

“Numbers show that Iga is dominating on the clay. Definitely you have to focus on yourself, without thinking, ‘OK, this is my chance’. Because if you're going to chase it, like, ‘OK, this is my chance’, and focus on this, you will lose the thing on the court, what you should do,” said Dubrov.

“In the end of the clay season, we will see, did you do the right thing or not? But for now, we can only focus on the results of the previous years. And the results of the previous years show that we cannot say anything that Iga is not great.

“She just didn't play well two tournaments, and it's like three or four weeks before the start of the Paris, so everything can change.”

Paris is the ultimate goal for Sabalenka during this part of the season. While Swiatek has won four French Open titles, Sabalenka’s best result on Parisian clay came in 2023, when she reached the semi-finals.

She admits she has unfinished business at Roland Garros, adding: “Every time I go there, it's like a challenge for me, even though I love playing on clay and I feel really good. But it seems like to be a challenge for me and I like to accept tough challenges.”

Last year, Sabalenka was knocked out in Paris by 17-year-old Mirra Andreeva in the quarter-finals and, statistically, the French Open is her third-best major in terms of winning percentage.

With a final in Stuttgart – on indoor clay – and a trophy in Madrid achieved in the last three weeks, Sabalenka is hoping her luck will turn in Paris later this month.

“I just have more confidence in my game on the clay court,” she said. “I had really tough battles in the past in the last stages of the tournament.

“I was there in the semis and I was like really close to make it to the finals. I’m just going to go out there and compete and fight.

“Physically and mentally I'm ready to work for every point as much as I have to work, and I really hope that this year is going to be different.”

For Dubrov, the key is to acknowledge the variety in conditions at each clay tournament and figuring out ways to adjust to each event.

“It's great to win tournaments before the Slams. But let's be real, Madrid is giving a bit more advantage for Aryna, because of the altitude,” he added.

“So, that's great that she can show that she can play. But now it’s about how to get this game to the courts of Paris. We need to think how we can apply it for, Rome first and then for the Paris, definitely.”