Aryna Sabalenka will make her return to tennis at the Madrid Open for the first time since her iconic Sunshine Double victory.
The world number one won Indian Wells and the Miami Open back-to-back to claim her second and third titles of the year.
Sabalenka withdrew from the Stuttgart Open, giving herself an extended break after her Sunshine Double triumph and ahead of a busy clay court season.
The Belarusian star will now head to the first WTA Tour Masters event on the clay at the Madrid Open, where she has a terrific record.
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Sabalenka arrives at the Madrid Open having won the Masters tournament three times in the last five years.
If Sabalenka wins the tournament again this year, she will earn two outright records from two tennis legends.
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Sabalenka currently shares the records for most titles and most finals at the Spanish clay court tournament.
The world number one currently shares the record for most finals with Simona Halep, with both reaching four apiece.
Sabalenka’s three Madrid Open title triumphs is level with Petra Kvitova’s feat of winning the tournament in 2011, 2015, 2018.
Should Sabalenka continue her dominant start to the season and win the Madrid Open, she will hold both records outright.
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Sabalenka’s dominance in Madrid since 2020 has seen the star lose just twice at the Spanish Masters event.
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The last time Sabalenka was beaten was in the 2024 final and it came at the hands of her great rival, Iga Swiatek.
The match was a three-set epic and it was decided by the narrowest of margins. Swiatek won a deciding tie-break by a scoreline of 9-7 to lift the trophy.
The loss prior to that was much more surprising for Sabalenka, as she was defeated in the first round of the 2022 event.
Sabalenka lost in three sets to Amanda Anisimova to leave the tournament at the very first stage when she was the third seed.
