ROLAND GARROS

June 3, 2025

Aryna Sabalenka

Press Conference

A. SABALENKA/Zheng Q.

7-6, 6-3

THE MODERATOR: So this was your tenth consecutive Grand Slam quarterfinal. Did that make a difference for you playing today at all?

ARYNA SABALENKA: That's crazy stats. Honestly, I wasn't really thinking about that. I was really focused on the game. Yeah, that's crazy. That's crazy statistics.

THE MODERATOR: Questions.

Q. Was there a sense of disappointment that the crowds weren't in the lower tiers? You're a multiple champion, No. 1 seed playing the Olympic champion. It's a big match. And yet culturally, for whatever reason, people are having lunch. Do you think something needs to change? What was your view of the fact that there were a lot of empty seats in the lower tiers? In the upper tiers there were obviously crowds watching.

ARYNA SABALENKA: I mean, I didn't really look in the crowd, but it felt like it was a lot of people. And, yeah, I agree, it was a big match and probably would make more sense to put us a little bit later just so more people could watch it.

But at the same time, I'm happy to finish earlier and then I have a half day off and I can just enjoy the city and do all the things that I have to do.

Yeah, talking about that, I definitely think that would make more sense to kind of like move our match for a little bit later.

Q. Just as an extension of that, if you take yourself out of it, and I understand why you would like to have the rest of the day and to get your match over, but would you like to see the women's tournament here given equal treatment to the men in terms of the scheduling, the fact that the women haven't played a single night match here?

ARYNA SABALENKA: Well, I definitely agree with that, and I definitely have to say that, yeah, we deserve the equal treatment, like you said. There was a lot of, like, great battles, a lot of great matches, which would be cool to see as, like, night session, just more people in the stands watching these incredible battles. And just to show ourselves to more people.

So, yeah, I definitely agree that we deserve to be put in a bigger stage, you know, like better timing, more people watching. You know what I mean?

Q. I know we can't say definitely, but it could be Iga next. Just talk a little bit about your relationship with her, how that's evolved. Obviously a big rivalry. You've hit with her recently a bit. Is there a kind of, you know, understanding between the two of you about what it's like to be right at the very top?

ARYNA SABALENKA: Yeah, I mean, before it wasn't any communication, any practices with her, but now we are getting better. We get along better, and we practice more often, and we know each other quite well. We've had a lot of great battles in the past. If it's going to be Iga, I'm super excited, and it's high-level matches.

Yeah, I'm super excited to go out there and to fight and to do everything I need to get the win.

Q. Aryna, I wanted to ask you, have you ever played a player more powerful than you in a match? And has that kind of made you step back? Any player, even for a little bit of a match. And does power, in a sense, is it threatening to you? Would you like to play against a player who hits harder than you?

ARYNA SABALENKA: Well, the first question, I don't think that I ever played someone who's more powerful than me. I honestly, I don't care if the player going to go out there and try to overhit me or if the player will try to, you know, like change the rhythm and make me move and run.

I think over the years I evolved my game a lot, and I think I'm ready to play against powerful players. I'm ready to play against whoever going to make me run and work for the point.

So, honestly, right now in this stage of my career, I don't really care, you know? But when it comes to the power, I like it, because then it's, like, Okay, you want to see the power? Let me show you something.

So I always take it as a challenge and as, like, Okay, let's see who is better today (smiling).

Q. You were talking about yourself and Iga, that you started to get on better in the last few years and started to practice together a bit more. Was there a moment, a conversation or a time, when that changed and you began to become closer?

ARYNA SABALENKA: I don't know. I don't know actually. I think everything started when I just came to her and asked to do TikTok in that Finals in Riyadh. Since that, we were, like, Okay, maybe we can communicate, we can be good to each other, we can practice sometimes (smiling).

So I think that was, like, the first step to a better relationship.

Q. What was the TikTok?

ARYNA SABALENKA: I made a TikTok in Riyadh last year in the Finals. We just did like a little dance together. I think since then, we are better with each other.

Q. To follow on that subject, do you like the option of playing the champion? Do you like these kind of challenges? I know you love being World No. 1. Do you like the challenge of taking on the strongest here in Roland Garros? If it is presented to you, obviously, because the game is on.

ARYNA SABALENKA: I love it. I love tough challenges. I think this is the matches where you actually improve as a player and where you get much stronger. So I love those challenges. And I always excited to face someone strong and then someone who can challenge me.

I love it, because I take it as a challenge, and I go out there and I fight, and I'm ready to leave everything I have to get the win. So I love those challenges.

Q. At the moment you seem very kind of comfortable and content in yourself mentally, and also in your game, you've referred to yourself as a complete player a few times this week. In your mind, what came first? Was it being comfortable in yourself allowed you to work on your game, or being comfortable in your game allowed you to feel comfortable in yourself?

ARYNA SABALENKA: That's a good question. I think everything started to come together when I kind of, like, understood myself much better, when I start to control my emotions, when I figured just myself a little bit better.

I think since that moment I was able to, you know, open up for more things. So I think everything started from, like, from that mental part of the game.

Q. (Off mic.)

ARYNA SABALENKA: I don't know. I was losing a lot of matches just because of my emotions, and one year I was, like, Okay, you know what? Whatever happened on the court, I'm not going to lose my emotions. I'm not going to get, like, crazy on court. I'm just going to, you know, play point by point. Doesn't matter if I'm losing in the match or whatever. I'm just going to take it step by step.

I won Adelaide that year, and then I won Australian Open. Then I was, like, Oh my God, I should have done it earlier.

And then everyone was telling me, Your emotions, like not helping you. It's like destroying you.

I was, like, Yeah, yeah, yeah, whatever.

At some point when I was losing a lot of tight matches, I was, like, Okay, that's the time to try something else. So I'm really glad I did it, and yeah.

Q. I felt that you are using forehand slice very good on like difference. Maybe not only today, but maybe throughout this clay court season, which is a quite efficient shot on the clay. Can you talk a little bit about if that something you add to your play recently? And how do you choose or decide that if you want to hit the slice or forehand strong?

Well, that's something I've been working for the past two years on that, like, touch game, like slices, forehand, backhand, drop shots, all of that stuff.

I don't know how do I decide. I just trust my instincts, and sometimes when I see, okay, the ball is going too far away from me, and I cannot, like, reach it, I will just go for the slice. I'm pretty confident in that shot, and I know that with the girls, just a little change of the rhythm can also bring more benefit rather than just, like, go and try to overhit it.

Kind of like you are out of the position, and sometimes slice gives you more time to come back. I just, I don't know, I just trust my instinct, and sometimes I go for it just because I feel like, okay, I have to.

Q. Did you enjoy the game today? What did you think of Qinwen's performance? And was she as good as you thought she would be?

ARYNA SABALENKA: Yeah, she played incredible tennis. She's a great player, and I expected her to play a great match. I enjoyed this battle. I enjoyed that I had to, like, you know, come back in that first set, and the first set was, like, really tight. It could go either way.

So I was really enjoying it. I'm super happy that I got win in straight sets. Yeah, she played incredible tennis.

Q. What you said about power a few minutes ago, you want to see power, let me show you something, it really reminded me of what Serena Williams said after you two played in 2021.

ARYNA SABALENKA: Oh, really?

Q. In Australia. I don't know if you remember that. She said, You want to play power? Let's go.

ARYNA SABALENKA: Nice (smiling).

Q. And you said, I don't think I've ever played someone more powerful than me. I am just curious whether that applies to Serena.

ARYNA SABALENKA: I think that she wasn't really more powerful than me in that match, but yeah, like, physically she was better than me, and she just put more balls back on my side than I did. I didn't really feel that she overpowered me in that game.

Q. Talking about power, but not only about power, you are a complete player. You're capable to do everything. If not, you wouldn't be No. 1 in the world. But how do you explain the fact that yesterday Bublik played 36 winning drop shots in a match against Draper?

ARYNA SABALENKA: That was crazy. I was watching that match.

Q. In one match. When we see the ladies' tennis, we don't see so many drop shots. Even Paolini, who you know pretty well, she's always trying to hit powerful shots, like you do a bit. But she may make three drop shots in one match. You, I don't know what is your average drop shot in a match, but how do you explain that? Don't you think that if Bublik was able to do 36 drop shots, winning most of them, against a player like Draper, who plays very strong and powerful, why the ladies don't do it or they don't do it enough?

ARYNA SABALENKA: That's a good question. I have to say that the drop shot is quite risky shot, and you really have to have good hands and good understanding of the court to be able to make it.

Not every girl is that fearless like Bublik. I watched that match yesterday, and sometimes it was just, like, wow, it just seems like it was his day yesterday. I'm not sure if he's making that much of drop shots every single match, and if he would play the way he played against Draper, like, every time he's out there, I think he would be in top 10.

He was just, like, really going for it. It was crazy match, honestly. I was, like, I wanted to see the fifth set, to be honest. In that first set I was supporting Draper because, yeah, Bublik was doing the crazy stuff on that court, you know? It just seemed like whatever he would decide to do, it would go in, you know?

He would just go for the drop shot from the serves -- from, like, returns. It doesn't make sense, you know? So it's quite risky shot. If you feel that this is the day when things going to work out for you, yeah, you definitely have to go for it because it's a good shot, especially on the clay court where you have an extra time and when overall you're a powerful player to just mix it up and make the other player guess. Then it's, like, yeah, we definitely should go more often for that, but it's a risky shot, and not everyone have that good hands as Bublik had yesterday.

But I think nowadays girls, like, they trying to mix it up, mix the rhythm more often than it used to be. So we are getting better at that part of the game. (Laughing.)

Q. On a similar theme, I would absolutely say that you utilized the drop shot very well today. We just looked at the statistics. You hit ten of them today.

ARYNA SABALENKA: See? Not three, but ten.

Q. They seemed to be a very effective weapon for you. I just wondered, is that something you have consciously been practicing in the last year or so? Because, as you say, you're known as a power player, but you actually did a lot of damage with the drop shot today.

ARYNA SABALENKA: Yeah, yeah. I think this is something we've been working over, like, past couple of years. That specific shot, I mean, obviously give me a lot of benefits in the game.

You know, I'm not going to go for the drop shot every single time like Bublik did yesterday. I mean, if I feel that it's working, I'm going to go for it.

But overall, I'm going to play with my power, because this is something where I feel the most comfortable, but you know, when you put the other player on the back foot and they go, like, through their back from the baseline, like, it's really important to mix it up little bit just so they guess every time.

Yeah, that shot really brings a lot of benefits.