French Open 2023: Aryna Sabalenka 'one of three top favourites', says Barbara Rittner as Belarussian progresses

ByRob Hemingway

Published 28/05/2023 at 18:19 GMT

Despite her recent first-round loss to Sofia Kenin at the Italian Open, Aryna Sabalenka has been one of the most in-form players on the women's tour during the European clay-court swing. And her display on Day 1 in Paris led to praise from both Barbara Rittner and Mats Wilander on Eurosport, with the latter declaring the 25-year-old as having "no weaknesses".

Aryna Sabalenka will be a tough proposition for anyone at the French Open if the current warm conditions continue, reckons Barbara Rittner.

World No. 2 Sabalenka spent just one hour and 11 minutes on court as she saw off Marta Kostyuk, and appeared to be in fine fettle despite her recent first-round loss at the Italian Open in the lead-up to Roland-Garros.

The 25-year-old is seeking to go beyond the third round of the French Open for the very first time and has a favourable-looking draw ahead of her, with the unseeded Iryna Shymanovich up next.

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If she wins through to the third round, then another unseeded opponent will await in the form of either Magdalena Frech or Kamilla Rakhimova.

"My gut feeling about her [Sabalenka] is very good," Rittner told Eurosport.

"The weather is good, which means the conditions are livelier, the balls are faster. That suits her powerful game incredibly well. She dominates the rallies with her serve and her returns. The conditions are very good.

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"She won in Madrid and beat Iga Swiatek there. Her self-confidence is good.

"She trains very well in Paris, very concentrated. She works incredibly hard, always has things she really works on meticulously and wants to improve.

"For me, she is one of three top favourites who can play well here."

Fellow Eurosport analyst Mats Wilander was another to salute Sabalenka, in particular her movement and much-discussed, now much-improved serve.

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"I always thought that Sabalenka had all the shots, she has the power," Wilander began. "She seems like she's moving better on every surface.

'She's really turning it on now' – Sabalenka easing past Kostyuk

"But it starts for me with the serve. We've talked about the serve, she talked about her serve a few years ago, and she could not get the second serve in play.

"She worked through it, she worked through winning a slam, and now she's working through knowing how to play on clay.

"What's the next step? I'm not really sure but I think it's going to be improvement by improvement.

"Physically, she's so strong - she has no weaknesses in her game if she believes in herself.

"Right now she has maybe the most confidence of all the players."

Echoing Rittner's thoughts on the conditions, Wilander nonetheless paired that school of thought with a warning for Sabalenka.

"When you look at the weather forecast, it's supposed to be like this for the next few days, so this is good for Sabalenka, for sure.

"But that's what makes Roland-Garros so difficult to win, because one day you have the perfect weather, and then it becomes rainy and slow, and you have to work for every point.

"That's when confidence is really important."

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