Aryna Sabalenka is quickly becoming an all-time great after producing another stellar Australian Open campaign.
Sabalenka rarely looked troubled on Thursday as she comfortably defeated Elina Svitolina 6-2, 6-3 on Rod Laver Arena.
Sabalenka has secured her place in a fourth consecutive Australian Open final: the first time a player has achieved this feat since Martina Hingis in 2003.
After the contest, Sabalenka commented on the potential return of Serena Williams, who sent tennis fans into a frenzy after refusing to rule out a shock return to tennis.
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Serena Williams has been rumoured to be making a comeback to professional tennis since her name was added to the ITIA’s drug-testing pool in December 2025.
After initially shutting down any comeback rumours, Williams reignited the conversation in a discussion with the ‘Today’ show.
“That’s not a yes or a no,” Williams said about a potential return. “I don’t know, I’m just going to see what happens.”
Aryna Sabalenka, the world number one, commented on the possibility of Serena’s return in her post-match press conference after defeating Svitolina on Thursday.
After describing Serena’s potential return as ‘amazing’, Sabalenka added: “I heard that she’s [Serena] enjoying her life, and whatever makes her happy, I’m happy for her. If she want to come back, that’s her decision. It’s going to be fun to see her back on tour.
“She got the personality, and she’s a fun one. It’s will be cool.”
When asked if there had been any talk about the matter in the locker room, Sabalenka added: “I don’t know. No, we didn’t — me personally, I didn’t speak to anyone about that.
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“I felt like everyone is on the same page. Like whatever makes her happy, it’s her life, she can do whatever she wants.”
Aryna Sabalenka’s record against Serena Williams
Aryna Sabalenka and Serena Williams have played each other once before on the WTA Tour: at the 2021 Australian Open.
Serena won the contest, defeating seventh-seeded Sabalenka 6-4, 2-6, 6-4 in the fourth round. Serena went on to reach the semi-finals, before losing to Naomi Osaka – the eventual champion.
After defeating Sabalenka, Serena said: “It was obviously real important because I didn’t want to be out of the tournament, so it felt good to kind of clutch that in the end and get through that.”
She added: “Like I said on the court, I just felt like even games that I lost, I was so close to winning. Not all games, but probably most of those games. I just needed to play better on the big points. I knew that I could. I still hadn’t reached my peak. I was like, Okay, Serena, you got this, just keep going.”
