Category: Articles

  • What Andy Murray will give Jack Draper as he is confirmed as his new coach

    Andy Murray has been confirmed as Jack Draper’s new coach after the British star confirmed he had split from Jamie Delgado after a short time together.

    “I am very grateful for everything Jamie Delgado has done for me over these past six months,” said Draper in a statement, ending their five months together. read.

    In an interesting turn of events, Draper confirmed he would be working alongside Andy Murray during the grass court swing this summer.

    Draper added: “In the interim, I will continue to be supported by the excellent team at the LTA, with the addition of Andy Murray, who will be supporting me throughout the grasscourt season.”

    Murray has not worked with anyone since a short stint with Novak Djokovic at the end of the 2024 season until just before the 2025 Roland Garros.

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    Despite his inactivity as a coach, Murray has been tipped to do well with Draper, who has slipped outside the top 50 of the ATP Tour rankings due to his form this season.

    Speaking on Sky Sports, Jamie Murray shared the number one attribute Murray will give Jack Draper as he looks bounce back from his injury woes.

    “Obviously experience, I guess. Experience of what it takes to prepare yourself for these events. Understand what it takes to win these events and the pressure that goes with being the number one British player,” said Murray.

    “Everything that that entails. There’s no one better qualified to understand what Jack will be going through. I think it’s an exciting appointment.

    “Jamie Delgado is a really good friend of mine so it’s a bit all over the place, but ultimately Jack is going to do what is best for his career and I hope it works out.”

    Draper returned to action after a lengthy lay-off for Great Britain’s Davis Cup tie against Norway in February and he has appeared intermittently since.

    The star has played in Dubai, Indian Wells, and the Barcelona Open, the latter of which saw him suffer an injury which has kept him out of the rest of the clay court swing.

    Draper has failed to find the form which saw him soar in the rankings last season, where he peaked at World No. 4 in the ATP Tour rankings.

    Under Andy Murray, Draper will be looking to reignite that form, where he genuinely looked like he could be a challenger to Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz’s crown.

    Draper won Indian Wells last season and reached the final of the Madrid Open, but from Wimbledon onward he only played one more tournament of the 2025 season.

    The post What Andy Murray will give Jack Draper as he is confirmed as his new coach appeared first on Tennis365.

  • Lorenzo Musetti delivers heartbreaking injury update after losing to Casper Ruud in Rome

    Lorenzo Musetti suffered a difficult defeat at the hands of Casper Ruud at his home tournament of the Italian Open and it could have dramatic consequences for the rest of his season.

    The Italian was beaten convincingly by Ruud in straight sets, in a match where his injury troubles seemed to rear their ugly head yet again.

    Musetti has missed multiple tournaments so far this year and he was famously ruled out of his Australian Open quarter-final against Novak Djokovic due to injury.

    The Italian was adamant he would play his match against Ruud in full on home territory, but it could have unfortunate consequences for Musetti.

    “Today I didn’t want to retire because I’m tired of retirements, I apologize for the show but today I wasn’t able to compete. Roland Garros? We’ll see, I need to get checks and tests to understand,” he said in his post-match press conference after losing to Ruud.

    “Mentally it’s hard to be clear-headed and proactive, I’ve never had so many injuries in my career. I hope the test results are positive so I can go to Paris with a different attitude. The first two matches in Madrid I felt good physically and tennis-wise.

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    “Here I played on one leg and I was afraid to put weight on my left leg. The future of the season is foggy right now, I struggle to think long-term.”

    The injury’s severity is bad enough that it could keep him out of Roland Garros, which is set to begin in Pars on the 25th May.

    “So far on red clay I haven’t performed at my best and I know that after Paris I’ll have a gap where I can try to recover the points lost. But the priority remains feeling good,” Musetti continued.

    Musetti’s defeat to Ruud ensures that he will leave the ATP Tour top 10 and he will surely continue to slip in the rankings if his injury is as bad as feared.

    “Dropping out of the top 10 hurts because of how I’m doing it with so many physical problems. If I have to complain about something it’s definitely on the physical level,” he added.

    “It’s a cruel twist because here in Rome I entered the top 10 while today I’ll leave it. I’ll try to change certain things to avoid injuries but I struggle to find a single explanation.

    “They’ve always been many small injuries at important moments that have affected me mentally and physically. I’ll continue to work to avoid it happening again.”

    Musetti his World No. 5 in the rankings at the beginning of the year, after a landmark 2025 season which saw him reach the semi-finals of Roland Garros and the quarter-finals of the US Open.

    Despite his improved form on the Tour, Musetti has not won an ATP title since 2022. The Italian has lost seven straight finals, including most recently at the Hong Kong Open at the turn of the year.

    The post Lorenzo Musetti delivers heartbreaking injury update after losing to Casper Ruud in Rome appeared first on Tennis365.

  • Jannik Sinner praised for what he’s doing in Rome which was just like Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic

    Jannik Sinner continued his spell-binding form at the Italian Open by dispatching Australian Alexei Popyrin in straight sets to confirm his place in the round of 16 of the competition.

    Sinner has now won 25 Masters matches in a row and he is on a 25-match win streak on the ATP Tour since his Qatar Open defeat to Jakub Mensik.

    The Italian dropped just two games against Popyrin in what felt like a foregone conclusion before a ball had even been struck in Rome.

    Without Carlos Alcaraz and Novak Djokovic at the Italian Open, another Masters title win looks inevitable for the World No. 1.

    Sinner has earned huge praise for his latest performance from Annabel Croft, who has compared the Italian to Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer.

    “What a performance. It’s going to take something to stop this man at the moment. He’s just so clinical from the back of the court, the quality of the ball striking,” said Croft after his dominant victory against Popyrin.

    “The way he controls the ball with aggression, and with rotation and spin on the ball. The control as well as the pace. It’s the depth with makes it virtually impossible to attack him. And it’s the way he plays with such balance at the back of the court as well.

    “If you try to get him on the move, he moves so efficiently. You can hardly hear the footwork. He just glides across the back of the court, very much the way we used to talk about Federer. And much like Djokovic. He’s so similar to the way Novak Djokovic plays. On top of that, the serving. Perfection! Clinical serving into the corners. Free points, quick points. So much to admire in his game.”

    Sinner was typically delighted to confirm his place in the round of 16 and set up a match with his compatriot Andreas Pellegrino next.

    Speaking to Sky Sports straight after the match, Sinner said: “I feel like it was one-way, the wind, so you don’t have to change a lot. When you play with wind, you try to move the ball a little bit more around. When you are against wind I try to hit the ball quite flat.

    “It’s been a very good performance from my side. It was very tricky conditions. He’s a big server, but his percentage was not very high which helped me. I’ve been returning very well and I am extremely happy to be in the next round.”

    Sinner now holds a better win percentage at clay court Masters events than Djokovic after his latest victory at the Italian Open.

    The Italian now sits on a 78.2% win rate at clay court Masters, which is just above Djokovic’s 77.8%.

    The post Jannik Sinner praised for what he’s doing in Rome which was just like Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic appeared first on Tennis365.

  • Alex Eala speaks out after her Italian Open loss to Elena Rybakina

    Alex Eala has delivered a positive assessment of her performance in her defeat to Elena Rybakina at the 2026 Italian Open as she spoke about her progress on clay.

    The Filipina was beaten 6-4, 6-3 by world No 2 Rybakina in the third round at the WTA 1000 tournament in Rome on Sunday.

    It was Eala’s first-ever match against Rybakina — a 26-year-old Kazakh star who won her second Grand Slam title at the 2026 Australian Open.

    Eala was making just her second appearance at the Italian Open after a first round exit on her debut last year.

    The 20-year-old defeated Magdalena Frech 6-0, 3-6, 6-4 in the first round and Wang Xinyu 6-4, 6-3 in the second round at the Foro Italico.

    After her campaign in Rome ended, Eala took to Instagram to write: “Rome heard me this time. Grazie mille!”

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    Speaking to reporters following her loss to Rybakina, Eala said: “Yeah, I’m happy with my performance. I think I was able to reach a good level of tennis and I don’t think it was an easy win for her.

    “So yeah, of course, things to work on and learnings from this match, but I think I’m in a good way.

    “They were very competitive games, but I think that she has the capacity to win a couple more free points, and of course she’s much more experienced than I am.

    “She’s the reigning Grand Slam champ; she won Australia and she’s been doing great since then. So I think the experience and many other factors helped her today.

    “She hits a good ball, so it’s very difficult [to be aggressive]. I think, of course, sometimes being aggressive is really my game, but in the end, she (Rybakina) is two metres, so it’s difficult. But I think today, I did what I could.”

    On her development as a player on clay, Eala added: “I think I moved well today and I took my chances when I needed to.

    “I’m very happy because I do see the improvement on clay court, especially when you compare it to my experience here last year.

    “I’m really happy with how I’ve been playing and the work I’ve been doing off competition with my team.”

    READ NEXT: Aryna Sabalenka makes 25-word statement after shock early Italian Open exit

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  • Coco Gauff reveals what her coach did mid-match which helped her defeat Iva Jovic

    Coco Gauff survived a major scare to come through her match against Iva Jovic and confirm her place in the quarter-finals of the Italian Open.

    Gauff faced match points in the second set against the talented American teenager, but she managed to fight back to win the match with a decider.

    The match eventually ended 5-7, 7-5, 6-2 as Gauff managed to just about hold on to her status at the Rome tournament, following Gauff’s difficult match against Solana Sierra too.

    Speaking in her post-match interview, Gauff revealed: “I think I’m just proud. Iva played really good tennis and the conditions today weren’t easy. We had win, we had airplanes, we had phones ringing. Everything that was going on, but yeah I’m really happy.”

    Gauff said a mid-match team talk from her team helped her turn the match around against Jovic, when she looked on the cusp of exiting the competition.

    “Thanks to my team, that pep talk definitely helped me mentally,” she said.

    In a later interview with Sky Sports’ Gigi Salmon, Gauff added: ““It was tough to find my rhythm. It was really windy today, I felt like I was missing a lot of balls. I’m really happy with my mentality. I wasn’t playing my best in some moments, but I was able to find a way.

    “I learned a lot over the years when it comes to those tough moments. It’s just trying to relax and play tennis, but it’s easier said than done.

    “Obviously my previous round was mentally not good enough and today was a complete 180, so I think that shows I’m able to be positive for the most part and I need to continue to do that.”

    Gauff will now play either Mirra Andreeva or Elise Mertens in the quarter-finals. The American’s draw has opened wide open since Aryna Sabalenka’s surprise defeat to Sorana Cirstea.

    If Gauff reaches the final four of the Italian Open she will play the winner of Cirstea vs Jelena Ostapenko, the latter of which beat Anna Kalinskaya to reach the quarter-finals.

    Gauff is yet to win the Italian Open in her career, but she did reach the final in Rome last year. The American was defeated by Jasmine Paolini in the final.

    The star has an excellent record at the Italian Open, however, having reached the semi-finals or later on three occasions throughout her career.

    She holds a 76% win rate in Rome, having won 20 of her 26 matches so far at the Italian Open. With the draw opening up, there’s every chance Gauff can go one further this year and lift the trophy.

    It would be the perfect preparation for Roland Garros, where the American is looking to defend the title she won last year in Paris.

    The post Coco Gauff reveals what her coach did mid-match which helped her defeat Iva Jovic appeared first on Tennis365.

  • Darren Cahill says what fans have got totally wrong about Jannik Sinner

    Darren Cahill has overseen Jannik Sinner’s incredible rise on the ATP Tour, including his current record-breaking run at Masters events this season.

    The Australian coach joined Sinner in 2022 and he’s been alongside the Italian for every single one of his four Grand Slam victories so far in his career.

    Cahill was rumoured to be leaving the Italian’s team at the end of the 2025 season, but Sinner’s victory at Wimbledon last year convinced him to stay.

    He could leave Sinner as early as the end of the 2026 season, although Cahill is yet to confirm his status as the World No. 1 continues to dominate the rest of the ATP Tour.

    In a new interview, Cahill has taken umbridge with fans’ complaints about Sinner’s robotic ability on the tennis court, as he sweeps aside most of the players on the ATP Tour with relative ease.

    Speaking to La Gazzetta dello Sport, the Australian coach said: “He’s not a robot. There’s a part of him that loves danger that you don’t see much on court, because when he plays a match, he has this internal computer running continuously, and there’s a certain security in the way he plays.

    “He calculates the chances of winning the point by choosing a specific shot with less risk, and that’s the hallmark of a winning player. In life, though, it’s not exactly like that.

    “He loves car racing, speed. He loves adrenaline. But these two souls come together in one incredibly professional player: training, food, rest.”

    List of notable tournaments for Darren Cahill

    • 2025 Wimbledon (with Jannik Sinner)
    • 2025 Australian Open (with Jannik Sinner)
    • 2024 US Open (with Jannik Sinner)
    • 2024 Australian Open (with Jannik Sinner)
    • 2018 French Open (with Simona Halep)
    • 2003 Australian Open (with Andre Agassi)
    • 2001 US Open (with Lleyton Hewitt)

    Cahill was already a legendary coach by the time he began working with Sinner, having already overseen Simona Halep’s return on the WTA Tour.

    Under Cahill’s watch, Halep reached World No. 1 in the WTA Tour rankings and won the 2018 Roland Garros title.

    Cahill has also enjoyed stints with the likes of Amanda Anisimova, Lleyton Hewitt, and Andre Agassi in a career which has seen him help his students win seven Grand Slam titles.

    Outside of Grand Slam victories with Sinner and Halep, Cahill also oversaw Hewitt’s 2001 US Open title victory, which was one of two majors the Australian claimed in his career.

    The Australian coach also won the 2003 Australian Open with Andre Agassi, which was the final Grand Slam the American legend was able to claim in his iconic career.

    Cahill has also confirmed that he will not coach anyone else after he finishes his work with Sinner. In the same interview, Cahill was asked if Sinner was the last player he would work with.

    He responded: “Absolutely yes. One hundred per cent.”

    The post Darren Cahill says what fans have got totally wrong about Jannik Sinner appeared first on Tennis365.

  • Iga Swiatek and Naomi Osaka have been shown a major disrespect by the Italian Open

    Iga Swiatek and Naomi Osaka are set for a blockbuster round of 16 match-up at the Italian Open.

    Both women have had their issues so far this season, but they’ve been impressive in reaching the latter stages of the clay court Masters event.

    Swiatek has beaten Caty McNally and Elisabetta Cocciaretto to earn her place in the last 16, while Osaka has impressively defeated Eva Lys and Diana Schnaider.

    The iconic pair currently share 10 Grand Slam titles between them, which makes it even more baffling that the Italian Open have placed them on the second biggest court in Rome.

    Swiatek and Osaka are set to play their match on the BNP Paribas Arena instead of the Masters tournament’s main court of Campo Centrale.

    The multi-time Grand Slam champions have been ousted from the main court by some strange match-ups too, which will likely rub salt into wounds.

    While it is understandable that Jannik Sinner and Flavio Cobolli’s matches are on the main court, as they are home favourites in Italy, the WTA matches that have been picked instead of Swiatek and Osaka are incredibly strange.

    Sorana Cirstea vs Linda Noskova was picked to open up the court, while Karolina Pliskova vs Elena Rybakina will close out the order of play.

    Rybakina is currently the number two, but a match with Pliskova does not have the potential theatrics that Osaka and Swiatek’s fourth match on the WTA Tour could have.

    The pair have played out three excellent matches previously, on some of the WTA Tour’s biggest stages.

    Swiatek currently leads the head-to-head with Osaka thanks to two victories in the 2022 Miami Open final and the 2024 Roland Garros, both of which saw the Pole go on to lift the trophy.

    Their only other meeting came at the 2019 Rogers Cup in Canada, when Osaka defeated Swiatek in straight sets to confirm a quarter-final place.

    Players of the quality and history of Swiatek and Osaka absolutely deserve to be played out on main courts all over the world on the WTA Tour.

    The pair will undoubtedly feel a little put out by their scheduling and they could enter the BNP Paribas Arena in Rome looking to prove a point.

    Swiatek is looking to win her fourth Italian Open title this year, having lifted the trophy in 2021, 2022, and 2024. The Pole holds an 88% win rate at the Rome event, which makes it the second best Masters event of her career so far.

    Osaka, meanwhile, is yet to win the Italian Open. The star’s best effort came in 2019, when she reached the quarter-finals for the first and only time.

    The star defeated Dominika Cibulková and Mihaela Buzărnescu without dropping a set, before she was forced to withdraw from her last eight match with Kiki Bertens.

    The post Iga Swiatek and Naomi Osaka have been shown a major disrespect by the Italian Open appeared first on Tennis365.

  • Carlos Alcaraz, Jasmine Paolini, Emma Raducanu and Jack Draper will suffer a shocking rankings slide

    The French Open 2026 is just around the corner and the tennis rankings are going to have a very different look for some star names compared to 12 months ago by the time the final ball is struck at Roland Garros.

    With defending champion Carlos Alcaraz out of the second Grand Slam of the year with a wrist injury, his ranking is set to collapse as he has 1,000 points dropping off his record after the Italian Open and another 2,000 will be wiped off his record after the major in Paris.

    Alcaraz is not the only player facing a rankings collapse and here is your Tennis365 to four big names facing a major drop after they failed to defend their ranking points from 2025.

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    Carlos Alcaraz
    Status: Clay court season ruined by wrist injury

    Alcaraz won the Italian Open and the French Open last year, defeating Jannik Sinner in the final of both tournaments, but a wrist injury has left him on the sidelines for those two tournaments in 2026.

    The Spaniard moved on to 8,850 ranking points after he won the title in Rome and that fired him up to No 2 in the ATP Rankings.

    With the 3,000 ranking points dropping off his total after he missed the Rome and Paris tournaments this year, Alcaraz’s ranking total will drop below 10,000 after the French Open, but his status as world No 2 will not be threatened any time soon.

    Jasmine Paolini
    Status: Defending champion dumped out of the Italian Open

    Paolini enjoyed a stunning couple of years as she became a fixture in the top 10 of the women’s game, but the wheels have fallen off for the diminutive Italian this season.

    The 1,000 ranking points she had to defend from her memorable win at the Italian Open last year have dropped off her record and her defeat in the last 32 of this year’s event in Rome will see her slide out of the top 10 next week.

    She was the No 4 seed at Roland Garros last year and will defend 240 points in that event, so another rankings slide will be inevitable if her poor form is not halted.

    Emma Raducanu
    Status: Facing an uncertain future amid illness concerns

    The British No 1 has lived through a bizarre 2026 season that has been dominated by what has been described as ‘the ongoing effects of a virus’ she picked up in Romania in February.

    Raducanu was expected to play at the Italian Open this week and told the media she was relishing her chance to make a return to the WTA Tour, but then promptly pulled out of the tournament a half an hour after making those comments, citing an illness issue.

    That chain of events sparked plenty of speculation about what might be going on in Raducanu’s world, especially after she suggested she had rediscovered her motivation in the interviews she conducted in Rome.

    There are suggestions that Raducanu wants a wild card for the WTA event in Strasbourg next week, but it may be risky for tournament directors, given her recent record of pulling out of events.

    Raducanu will drop out of the top 32 of the rankings after her withdrawal in Rome and will not be seeded for Grand Slams, if she is fit enough to play at the French Open or Wimbledon.

    Jack Draper
    Status: Out of the French Open due to injury

    The Brit was a fixture in the top four of the ATP Rankings a year ago after his first ATP 1000 title in Indian Wells was backed up with a run to the Madrid Open final.

    With his French Open ambitions already ended by injury, Draper is set to drop out of the top 100 of the rankings by the end of the French Open.

    He will be able to use a protected ranking to get into top tier tournaments, but it will be a long way back for the Brit now.

    READ MORE: Carlos Alcaraz receives positive prediction on when he might return to tennis

    The post Carlos Alcaraz, Jasmine Paolini, Emma Raducanu and Jack Draper will suffer a shocking rankings slide appeared first on Tennis365.

  • Juan Martin del Potro and Gabriela Sabatini gives their verdict on Jack Draper’s potential

    Argentine tennis icons Juan Martin del Potro and Gabriela Sabatini have spoken to Tennis365 about Jack Draper’s potential after the British star’s latest injury setback.

    Draper has not played since he was forced to retire in his match against Tomas Martin Etcheverry in the opening round at the Barcelona Open last month.

    The 24-year-old revealed afterwards that he had suffered an aggravated tendon in his right knee and pulled out of the Masters 1000 events in Madrid and Rome. He has since withdrawn from the French Open, where he had been hoping to compete.

    Draper‘s knee issue occurred just two months after he returned to the ATP Tour following almost six months on the sidelines due to a bone stress injury in his left arm.

    While Draper has battled a host of other problems with his body in his short career to date, he remains one of the most exciting talents in the sport.

    The Brit reached a career-high ranking of world No 4 in June 2025 after a stellar first half of the season that included him winning the Indian Wells Masters.

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    What did Del Potro and Sabatini say about Draper?

    In an exclusive joint-interview, Tennis365 asked del Potro and Sabatini — who are ambassadors for the Roland Garros Junior Series by Renault — if Draper can compete with Sinner and Alcaraz, providing he overcomes his injury struggles.

    Del Potro, who dealt with serious wrist and knee injuries during his own glittering career, was positive about Draper.

    “Yeah, why not? I know how difficult it is to deal with injuries,” said del Potro, who defeated Roger Federer in the 2009 US Open final.

    “But he has the game. He did it (challenge Alcaraz and Sinner) already.

    “So, if his body allows him to play without pain and he starts to get confidence again in his body, I think he can be one of these guys who you have to take care of in the draw.”

    Sabatini, who beat Steffi Graf to win the US Open in 1990, then shared her thoughts on Draper.

    “Yeah, he has some great potential,” Sabatini said. “I mean, he’s already a great player. We have seen that at the US Open [in 2024, when Draper reached the semi-finals].

    “He can do a lot of damage with his game, so hopefully he will be okay with his injuries. And I’m sure he’s another player who will be there at the top.”

    READ NEXT: Why Jack Draper ‘needs to change something’ as injury expert issues Juan Martin del Potro warning

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  • Aryna Sabalenka facing injury nightmare that could plunge her Grand Slam dream into doubt

    It feels like the stakes have risen for Aryna Sabalenka since she set foot on red clay courts and the pressure told as she slumped to another shock defeat in Rome.

    The world No 1 was in cruise control against as she led Sorana Cirstea after racing to a 6-2, 2-0, but she allowed momentum to turn and slumped to a shocking 2-6, 6-3, 7-5 defeat against her 36-year-old opponent.

    The loss was laced with controversy as she was accused of taking an injury time out at a key moment in the deciding set, when her opponent was about to serve.

    Taking an injury break before you opponent serves can raise eyebrows, but Sabalenka insisted she was suffering from a lower back problem and had no option.

    “I feel like I didn’t play well from the beginning till the end,” Sabalenka said. “I felt like my body was limiting me from performing on the highest level.”

    More Tennis News

    Everything Aryna Sabalenka said after shock Italian Open loss as she makes injury confession

    Aryna Sabalenka suffers another early loss as French Open door widens for rivals amid injury woes

    They were words that confirmed Sabalenka is not where she wants to be physically just a few days before the start of the second major of 2026 and after her success of winning the ‘Sunshine Double’ at Indian Wells and Miami, her failures in Madrid and Rome have come as something of a surprise.

    Sabalenka appeared to be seperating herself from the pack in women’s tennis during a dominant month of March, but she was a notable absentee from the WTA 500 tournament in Stuttgart a week before the Madrid Open as she eased herself back onto the clay courts.

    Now her clay court preparations have been thrown into chaos after the defeat against Cirstea and she has a little over two weeks to get herself ready to challenge for her first Roland Garros title.

    While the Belarusian would never make a public declaration over her priorities for this year, it’s safe to assume completing a career Grand Slam collection by winning the French Open and Wimbledon for the first time would have been at the top of her wanted list for this year.

    Now the first of those tournaments is on her horizon and it is arriving at a moment when she appears to be at her lowest ebb for some time.

    The next two weeks need to be spent finding a solution to her fitness issue and she will want to get to Paris early and look to hit herself into form on clay courts with an extended practice schedule.

    She will also have a chance to find form in the early rounds at Roland Garros, as her power hitting should allow her to ease past her opponents in the French Open, but this is not the preparation she would have been hoping for when she started her clay court campaign in Rome.

    Sabelanka was pushed by Naomi Osaka before losing against Hailey Baptiste in Madrid and now she is licking her wounds from another shock defeat against Cirstea.

    Sabalenka is not used to losing against players at this level and it will give the rest of the women’s game hope that the rankings leader is vulnerable heading into a phase of the season when fitness and form need to unite to achieve success.

    READ NEXT: Jessica Pegula gives her verdict on Jannik Sinner and Aryna Sabalenka’s boycott claims

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