Aryna Sabalenka will, as she does with almost every event she enters, head to Roland Garros as an overwhelming favourite.
However, recent events have somewhat diminished the fear factor that she built up throughout an impressive 2025 campaign on the clay.
After all, the world number one has suffered shock early exits in both Madrid and Rome, with the latter coming after she picked up a worrying injury to her lower back.
So, after completing the Sunshine Double, Aryna Sabalenka will now head to Paris with fitness and form concerns.
This has prompted Kim Clijsters to suggest two players whom she backs as greater favourites to win Roland Garros, even ahead of the Belarusian.
Two players tipped to challenge Aryna Sabalenka for the Roland Garros title
Speaking on her Love All podcast, the four-time Grand Slam champion began by explaining why she thinks the clay does not suit Sabalenka as well as some of the other surfaces.
She suggested: “To me, in general, like, I have a couple of players that I think I would put over her anyway, even if she’s playing at her best, just because the movement is not quite as good.
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“The type of tennis that she plays, she hits the ball so aggressive, but it just doesn’t always have the same effect on that surface.”
Clijsters then named her two challengers: “And I think there’s some players when they’re playing well: Coco, Iga Swiatek as well.
“I think those two players, to me, are maybe just a little bit more of a favourite at the moment, but then again, you know, if you see some of the shots that she was hitting in Indian Wells and where she, you know, on match point down and, you know decisions that she makes, like she had a lot of confidence there, but then now she’s on a different surface, so is she able to bring that on a clay court is going to be interesting to see.
“She hasn’t had the great preparation, and the confidence matches that she had a few months ago, but, yeah, it’ll be interesting to see, but to me, Iga and Coco are definitely a little bit more of a favourite to me.”
This comes not long after Andy Roddick said if he thought Sabalenka was still the French Open favourite.
Aryna Sabalenka’s historical performance at Roland Garros
Last year marked Sabalenka’s best-ever performance at Roland Garros, reaching the final and being within one set of the title.
Alas, as we all saw, her spectacular collapse gifted Coco Gauff her maiden title in Paris.
Sabalenka will return to the French capital, raring to right those wrongs, and has been trending upwards with each new year at this event.
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What a performance!
However, it took a while for her to get to grips with the conditions. In her first five visits to the main draw, she did not surpass the third round once.
2023 represented a breakthrough, as she reached the semi-finals before following that up with a quarter-final run in 2024.
Sabalenka has offered a fitness update since that shock defeat in Rome, and it will be interesting to see what work can be done between now and the start of Roland Garros.
