Former world number one Lindsay Davenport has heaped praise on Belarus’ Aryna Sabalenka for defending the Australian Open title.
The 25-year-old defeated China’s Qinwen Zheng in the final in straight sets with a score of 6-3, 6-2 on Saturday to win the title for the second year running.
Davenport was recently quoted in a report where she heaped praise on Sabalenka and also highlighted how the current world number two had ‘something different’ about her this time around.
"We were curious if she was going to be able to keep it together in this entire tournament,” said the three-time Grand Slam winner. “You go back, yes, she won the Australian Open, semi-finals of Roland Garros last year, up 5-2 in the third match point, and collapsed against [Karolina] Muchova.
2023 - Aryna Sabalenka has won her 12th hard court title and first since… the Australian Open 2023 - she had lost her three final on this surface in this span (Indian Wells, US Open 2023 and Brisbane 2024). Deliverance. #AusOpen | @AustralianOpen @WTA @WTA_insider
“Up a set and a break in the semifinals of Wimbledon, lost to [Ons] Jabeur. Then we saw in that [US Open] final against Coco Gauff, really get rattled by the crowd. I was expecting that, possibly against Gauff, who was really challenging her late in that first set.
"But something was different about Sabalenka here—whether it was the confidence from winning here last year or just a new mindset coming off the off-season where you know she works so incredibly hard.
“She was ready emotionally. It's the best I’ve ever seen her. She was buttoned up; she was ready for the pressure moments when they did occur, and she didn't have to have many of them because she was playing so well.”
