Sabalenka bids to seek out her clay-court ft on the French Open

The Belarusian has triumphed on the Madrid Open, the celebrated WTA 1000 match on the European clay swing, 3 times together with this 12 months, matching the tally of Petra Kvitova, the artful left-handed Czech. Sabalenka has crushed among the extra reputed clay-courters within the ladies’s recreation, together with Ashleigh Barty and Iga Swiatek, and performed her half in elevating the 2024 Madrid remaining with Swiatek to be among the many most iconic battles in latest reminiscence. But, of her 20 profession titles, solely these three have come on clay.

The 27-year-old has notched up 62 match wins on clay since 2021, as per stats by WTA. It’s the second-best on the ladies’s tour after four-time French Open champion Swiatek (81). Sabalenka’s 5759.25 factors on the WTA Clay-Court docket Energy Rankings — a mean of the factors collected on the floor from the 2021 season — are additionally solely second to Swiatek’s (9336.75). But, the three-time Slam winner and two-time Wimbledon semifinalist has made only one semi-final on the French Open.

Evidently over the previous few years, Sabalenka has regularly discovered her ft and brought strong strides on the purple grime, however she is but to make that huge push the place it issues most on the floor: Roland Garros. For the runaway world No.1 who has been consistency personified for some time now, the French Open beginning on Sunday marks a big take a look at on whether or not she will crack the clay code in Paris and improve her status from a mere hard-court bully to a multi-court champion.

She has momentum, confidence and a extra rounded recreation as her allies in that quest. The Australian Open finalist sits on a tour-leading 34 victories (to six losses) this season. That features a 12-2 win-loss file on clay, with a title in Madrid and a remaining look in Stuttgart, the place she misplaced to 2017 French Open winner Jelena Ostapenko. What would additionally work in Sabalenka’s favour in Paris is that Swiatek, the three-time defending champion, goes via a tough patch. And, except world No.4 Jasmine Paolini, the remaining within the prime 10 additionally don’t painting consolation on clay.

Sabalenka, the two-time Australian Open and reigning US Open champion, actually hasn’t felt snug at Roland Garros. 5 straight first-week exits from 2018 to 2022 — Sabalenka was removed from developed in her recreation and the thoughts in that interval — was adopted by a semi-final defeat in 2023 to Karolina Muchova. Struck down by sickness, she was packed off by Russian teen Mirra Andreeva within the quarter-final final 12 months.

TOO HARD-WIRED?

What complicates issues for the Belarusian on clay is what makes her a beast on laborious courts. The go-for-broke mindset from the baseline power-hitter will get littered by the additional time and ideas on the slower clay courts.

“I’ve extra time and extra choices in my head, and typically I get confused,” Sabalenka had stated.

Sabalenka isn’t the most effective in terms of these choices; actually not compared to her unfiltered strokeplay from the again of the court docket. To really feel extra at residence on clay, these choices must ring a bell come the best second in a selected level.

It’s a side, nonetheless, that Sabalenka is more and more getting higher at. It has additionally resulted in her capturing Slams over the past two seasons from simply being a well-known face within the second week. Certain, energy performed an enormous function in Sabalenka’s titles in Melbourne and New York final 12 months, however so did her finer skill to shock opponents with the number of mixing the tempo of the rally and her personal court docket place. There’s a stark distinction within the court docket motion of Sabalenka of 2024-25 to the Sabalenka of 2021-22.

In response to information by Stats Carry out, Sabalenka’s common quantity of web approaches within the 2024 season was 10.3, up from 6.5 within the 2021 season. Her success on the web mirrored the overall approaches (6.7 in 2024 to 4.1 in 2021).

Sabalenka should be a piece in progress within the contact recreation to go along with all that brute drive, however work has certainly gone into it and is beginning to yield larger rewards.

“I feel that’s the largest key in many of the matches proper now,” Sabalenka stated after her title in Madrid.

It would stay key if the world No.1, of unrivalled consistency and hard-court supremacy, is to take that defining leap on the French Open.