Aryna Sabalenka: Defending US Open champion targets consecutive titles after ‘tough lessons’ at Wimbledon, Melbourne, Roland-Garros
By Becky Hart
Updated 07/08/2025 at 21:57 GMT+1
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World No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka has been speaking to the press ahead of the final Grand Slam of the season, the US Open from Flushing Meadows. Despite being without a Slam win in 2025, Sabalenka believes she is going to "peak" for the event in New York, whilst also acknowledging the "tough lessons" from this season so far, where she has lost two Slam finals.
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Aryna Sabalenka heads into the US Open later this month as the defending champion and favourite for the women's title, despite not having lifted a major trophy this year.
The world No. 1 has one last chance to grab a Slam in 2025 and will be on her favoured hard courts at Flushing Meadows, but her form heading into the event is a slight unknown given she has yet to play a warm-up tournament.
That will change when she takes part in the Cincinnati Open, where she is also the defending champion.
Sabalenka was handed a bye in the first round as the No. 1 seed and will take on former Wimbledon winner Marketa Vondrousova in the second round.
Speaking to the media at a press conference, Sabalenka sounded confident as she assessed how her 2025 season has unfolded.
"I think I'm pretty good this season so far in the Slams. Lost those two finals [at the Australian Open and French Open]. I learned really tough lessons," she explained.
"I lost in [the] semis at Wimbledon, but the consistency is there; I'm just missing a little part. And [the] US Open has always been my favourite Slam.
"I'm the defending champion and I love to be in this position, and it's a really important part of the season, and I really hope that those tough lessons that I learnt in the previous Slams are going to help me in this one. If not this one, the next one."
Sabalenka lost to Madison Keys in Melbourne in three tight sets, before being defeated by Coco Gauff at Roland-Garros.
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The latter of those two caused some controversy, thanks to Sabalenka's post-match comments, where she implied Gauff had won because of Sabalenka's own "mistakes" - later apologising for her reaction.
"Some people don't really understand the intensity of everything. You lose the final of the biggest tournament, and then you go to the media straight away and you're so frustrated, so p***** [off with] yourself," Sabalenka explained.
"And you're just trying to figure out what just happened. You don't think, and then you make this comment. And people - they forget completely about who you are the rest of the time.
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"They just like to see someone fail and... take it as the main thing. After that, I also had to sit back and, OK, reflect on everything and apologise and make sure people understand my point, that it was just... I was overemotional.
"I was completely in the wrong."
Gauff made it clear there were no hard feelings at Wimbledon, practising with her rival and even recording some dances for social media.
Neither made the final at SW19, Sabalenka losing unexpectedly in the semi-finals to Amanda Anisimova, while Gauff lost in the opening round to Dayana Yastremska.
But now Sabalenka is rested and recharged, ready to defend her US Open crown after beating Jessica Pegula in last year’s final.
"It's an important part of the season, like a... big part of the season," she said. "That's why I took a little time off, recharge it. I did a great preparation and I really hope I'm going to [be at] my peak at the Open."
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