Aryna Sabalenka will return to tennis at the Brisbane International, and she is set to play doubles as well as singles.
Sabalenka ended her season by losing to Nick Kyrgios in the Battle of the Sexes, but her time away from tennis will not be long.
The star will play the WTA 250 event, the Brisbane International as the top seed, which begins on 4 January.
As well as returning to singles action at the Australian tournament, Sabalenka has also entered the doubles field.
Aryna Sabalenka set for doubles appearance with Paula Badosa
Sabalenka will play the Brisbane International doubles tournament alongside her friend Paula Badosa, who is set to play for the first time at the China Open.
The pair are set to play Liudmila Samsonova and Zhang Shuai in the first round of the Australian tournament.
Before her dominance in singles, Sabalenka introduced herself to the WTA Tour as a doubles specialist, particularly alongside Elise Mertens.
The two stars won five tournaments together between 2019 and 2021, including the US Open and the Australian Open.
Sabalenka’s last doubles appearance also came in Australia, where she teamed with Lidziya Marozava at the 2025 Adelaide International.
Marozava and Sabalenka reached the semi-finals of the tournament, but they lost to Storm Hunter and Kateřina Siniaková.
Aryna Sabalenka and Paula Badosa’s last doubles appearance
Sabalenka and Badosa have not played a doubles tournament together since the Madrid Open back in 2022.
The pair entered the Masters 1000 clay court event, but they came up against Coco Gauff and Jessica Pegula.
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The American pair defeated Sabalenka and Badosa in straight sets, with the pair only winning five games across two sets.
Sabalenka and Badosa entered several tournaments in 2022, including the Miami Open and the Stuttgart Open.
Out of the three tournaments they played in 2022, the pair won just two of the five matches as a doubles pair.
