TORONTO, Aug 2 (Reuters) – World number one Aryna Sabalenka said on Sunday she was feeling hopeful going into the lead-up to the U.S. Open after a string of disappointing Grand Slam results earlier this year.
The 28-year-old Belarusian failed to reach the quarter-finals at Wimbledon last month and was defeated in the quarters at the French Open in June. In January, she lost in the final at the Australian Open.
“I have huge hopes,” Sabalenka told reporters in Toronto of returning to the hard court for the Canadian Open where she will play her opening match on Tuesday.
“I wouldn’t say that clay and grass… was that bad. I was trying a couple things, things didn’t go the way I expected.
“And now we’re kind of back to the basics, and I really hope it’s going to work out well on the hard court again.”’
That meant bringing back the baseline game and making sure she was confident there, she said.
Sabalenka said the run-in to the U.S. Open could be tricky for players, especially those who had progressed far at previous tournaments.
“If you go far in the grass court, you feel really fatigued and you’re not able to pull out any good tennis,” she said, before adding with a laugh: “But this year I didn’t do well, so I’m here.”
She said she was in good spirits after some much-need rest, and had suffered physically and mentally during the summer swing but was eager to get back on court.
She will play mixed doubles with Novak Djokovic at the U.S. Open, in the week before the singles matches begin on August 30.
“I’m pretty excited. I think it’s going to fun,” Sabalenka said. “Playing with Novak is always fun… We’re chasing (the) title, that’s our goal, I believe, so it’s going to fun and intense.”
Asked about the WTA’s updated eligibility policy which will require players to clear a one-time gene test to compete on the women’s tour, Sabalenka said she supported it.
“I think it’s really important to keep the fairness in our tour,” she said. “It’s obviously, biologically, the men are way stronger than women, so I feel like it would be not really fair for the woman to compete against (a) biological man.”
In December, Sabalenka lost 6-3 6-3 to Nick Kyrgios in a controversial “Battle of the Sexes” exhibition match in Dubai which critics described as a publicity stunt that risked trivialising the women’s game.
(Reporting by Nicole Fernandes in Toronto; editing by Clare Fallon)
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