Aryna Sabalenka will have plenty of competition heading into the US Open this year, with a handful of tangible, dangerous threats for the crown.
Naturally, she will be the favourite, as the defending champion and world number one who has reached at least the semi-final of each Grand Slam this year.
Alas, she is yet to win one in 2025, with this being her final chance.
Should she fail, then Sabalenka could join an unwanted list including John McEnroe and Lindsay Davenport.
With power and technique beyond almost everyone else on the tour, it often feels like only her own mentality will stop her from winning it all.
That could be a worry heading into the US Open, where she will be challenged and provoked relentlessly for her recent comments about Coco Gauff.
Aryna Sabalenka’s French Open final comments about Coco Gauff could come back to haunt her
Although she has already apologised numerous times and shown genuine remorse, clearly making up with the 21-year-old, for some, that might not be enough.
Especially with a fickle American crowd who will want to protect their top prospect and do whatever they can to unsettle one of her biggest rivals.
The Belarusian was emotional and short-sighted in her post-match press conference after the French Open final, but who can blame her? She had just lost yet another Grand Slam final in tough conditions, and made a flippant comment that she has since come to regret.
She claimed: “That hurts. Especially when you’ve been playing really good tennis all week. If Iga [Swiatek] had beaten me the other day, I think she would have gone out today and gotten the win.
“It just hurts. I’ve been playing really well, and then in the last match, going out there and doing what I did, it hurts.”
Ironically, Sabalenka claims she’s happy about the French Open final incident and how it has shaped her as a person since.
Aryna Sabalenka will have to battle the US Open crowd
It is for this reason that Aryna Sabalenka’s biggest threat will likely not be any opponent she faces, but the US Open crowd instead.
As noted earlier, her mentality is what needs to be sound to allow her physical and technical superiority to shine.
It could be hard to keep things in check when she has tens of thousands of fans all preying on her downfall.
Despite being the defending champion, Sabalenka’s comments about Gauff could make her a pariah in New York. Should she face an American at the event too, this vitriol could reach an all-time high.
It will take a monumental mental effort for Sabalenka to overcome the inevitable obstacles she faces, to win the title again.
