Aryna Sabalenka heaped praise on Elena Rybakina following their Indian Wells final explaining that she's a very nice person on and off the tennis court.
The duo played a few times already with two major finals between them this year. The Australian Open one saw Sabalenka battle back from losing the first set to win the match while this one went clearly to Rybakina in straight sets. It was a disappointing loss for Aryna but she's not bitter about it because she quite likes what she's seen from Rybakina:
"I don't know her that good, but she seems very nice and cool girl, you know. She's really good person, I would say on and off the court. But I don't know her that well. But seems like she's very nice girl."
On losing to her, Sabalenka said:
"I think it's a good -- it's not good to lose, but I think this tough loss will motivate me more, because I don't like to lose in the finals. This is the worst, you know. So I wouldn't say that this loss is really good."
Speaking about the upcoming Miami Masters, Sabalenka said:
"But going to Miami, I think I will be more motivated instead of going as an Indian Wells winner. So, I mean, I hope that this tough loss will help me in the next matches to stay focused and keep working and keep fighting for another title in this season."