Commentators have drawn parallels between former world No. 1 Maria Sharapova and world No. 2 Aryna Sabalenka, saying they both hit the ball with great power and strength.

Australian Open champion Sabalenka is known for her deep and powerful groundstrokes, helping her to reach great heights in her career. This led commentator Leif Shiras to compare the Belarussian player to tennis star Sharapova, saying she had a similar style in her early days.

"I think Maria Sharapova had a little bit of that early in her career, when she was a little bit of a ball basher," Shiras said on the Tennis Channel Inside-In podcast. 

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Shiras suggests Sabalenka could use more control

Shiras went on to add that as Sharapova matured, she learned to control her aggressive approach and focus more on point construction, which helped her to achieve more success.

The commentator also said that she thinks Sabalenka could be on her way to doing the same which would be huge for her game.

"And I think she learned to control her groundstrokes and play herself into points and construct points, build points. And I think Aryna Sabalenka is getting a little closer to that could be the huge," she said.

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Maria Sharapova competed on the WTA Tour from 2001 to 2020 and is one of only ten women to have achieved the career Grand Slam. She is also an Olympic medalist and is considered by many to be one of the greatest players of her generation.

Shiras' comparison came after co-guest Jan-Michael Gambill's comments praising Sabalenka's powerful shots, saying that the 25-year-old has grown in confidence.

"Aryna Sabalenka seems more and more confident, she's gonna hit the ball big. She's gonna go for the ground strokes. Go for her serves and her returns. It's all offensive. It's, it's frankly a lot of fun to watch," he said.

"I sort of gravitate toward players like that, but she's also I think playing the pressure moments bigger. She's not getting as down on herself in matches, doesn't sort of lose her focus as badly as in the past," he added.

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