Garbine Muguruza intrigued about Aryna Sabalenka being hunted over hunter at WTA Finals

Former world number one Garbine Muguruza believes it will be ‘interesting’ to see how Belarus’ Aryna Sabalenka will perform in the upcoming WTA Finals. The last mega-event in the women’s calendar is set to begin in less than a week’s time where top eight players in women’s tennis will participate to showcase their talent and secure the ultimate prize.

This year, for the first time ever, the tournament will be organised in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The tournament director for this year will be none other than the former world number one Muguruza who spoke to WTA’s official website ahead of the competition. The two-time Grand Slam winner, in particular, spoke about the reigning world number one Sabalenka.

The Caracas-born ace was of the opinion that it would be interesting to see whether she would be able to handle the pressure of being the highly-ranked player in women’s tennis. “It’s the ultimate tournament, the last of the year, where you play for everything. It will be very interesting this year with [No.1] Aryna Sabalenka. It’s going to be interesting how she handles all this pressure.”

She also shared her thoughts on the Saudi Six Kings Slam. “It shows there’s a lot of interest in tennis in the Kingdom,” she said. “It was an exhibition, but ours is an official tournament.

“I’m really looking forward to it. We want to make it great so when they come back next year, they’ll be really excited.”

Sabalenka recently became the world number one after Poland’s Iga Swiatek decided not to play any tennis after the US Open. The Minsk-born has been going through a fabulous 2024 where she has won two out of four Grand Slams. She lifted the Australian Open after beating China’s Zheng Qinwen in the final in straight sets with a score of 6-3, 6-2. She then lifted the US Open after beating America’s Jessica Pegula in the final in straight tsets with a score of 7-5, 7-5. This year, former world number one and current world number two Swiatek will be defending her title in Riyadh. She lifted the 2023 edition after beating Pegula in the final in straight sets with a score of 6-1, 6-0.