Aryna Sabalenka was at her dominant best to secure the first Sunshine Double of her glittering career.
The world number one has lost just one match so far in 2026, to Elena Rybakina in the Australian Open final, and she has already collected three titles.
Sabalenka now heads to the clay court season brimming with confidence and looking to win just her fourth career title on the surface.
After watching her dominance unfold so far this year, Andrea Petkovic believes the rest of the WTA Tour should be worried about what the world number one has managed over the last few months.
Aryna Sabalenka’s emotional resilience is ‘scary’ for the WTA Tour
Sabalenka is 23-1 so far in 2026 and Petkovic believes her loss against Rybakina in Melbourne caused a significant shift for the world number one.
“I looked at a few highlights of the Australian Open final one more time, because I remembered it in a way that Aryna self-destructed emotionally.
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“She was up 3-0 in the third set and she still lost against Rybakina and lost that Australian Open title. That has happened to her before and especially against Coco Gauff, last year at Roland Garros and the first US Open final where Coco won her first major title.
“She said she had a lot of conversations after the Australian Open with her team, trying to figure why she was so emotionally strong in 99% of her matches and then it comes to the big final and she got overwhelmed by her emotions, got really down on herself, when she kept it together for basically every other match.”
Following the Australian Open, Sabalenka won Indian Wells and the Miami Open back-to-back and Petkovic believes that’s down to a change in her mentality.
“But she has figured it out and that is scary for everybody else because she has now won the Sunshine Double.
“Yes, that’s amazing in itself but she has won two huge titles back to back, with being tired in Miami, with the different conditions, with trying to stay in this competitor’s mindset for four weeks.”
Sabalenka’s next tournament is expected to be the Women’s Stuttgart Open, which the star is yet to win in her career.
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It should be no surprise that Sabalenka’s iron mentality has kept her at the very top of the WTA Tour for so long.
Sabalenka has been at the summit of the rankings for an incredible 76 weeks and she shows no signs of slowing down.
Asked about her mentality following her Sunshine Double win, she said: “I hate to lose. I hate that feeling when you lose a match.
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“I can’t sleep, I dream about tennis, I hate myself for making some mistakes that may have cost me the match, I hate that feeling.
“Just for that, every time I step onto the court, I try to give my best and do everything possible and impossible to win.”
Sabalenka is currently over 3000 ranking points ahead of Rybakina in second place and she shows no signs of slowing down.
