ROLAND GARROS

May 23, 2025

Aryna Sabalenka

Press Conference

THE MODERATOR: Aryna, welcome to Roland Garros. How does it feel to be here? How is your preparation going?

ARYNA SABALENKA: I'm super happy to be back. I love this tournament. It's super beautiful, and I'm just super excited to start my first match here.

THE MODERATOR: Questions.

Q. Do you feel stronger than ever on clay?

ARYNA SABALENKA: Well, yeah, definitely I think throughout the years I improved a lot, and today I feel physically, mentally, and I think my game is pretty much ready to play on clay.

Yeah, I definitely feel stronger than ever.

Q. It's your second straight slam that you have arrived as the top seed. Can you compare the feeling in Paris, somewhere you haven't won before, to January where you were a two-time defending champion, the difference between the two there?

ARYNA SABALENKA: I mean, honestly, preparation-wise, there is no difference. Mentally, and like in my head, there is no difference. It honestly doesn't matter your ranking when you arrive in the big tournaments, as we see in the past. There is so many crazy upsets happening. So ranking doesn't really matter anymore.

I'm just trying to focus on my game, and nowadays I know I can do well in clay, so arriving here, I feel really strong and super excited, and hopefully this is going to be the year when I'm really going to be proud of myself on the clay court.

Q. You have had some near misses here and last year you were unlucky with... Does that make you more determined to put it right? Are those things in your mind when you come back here?

ARYNA SABALENKA: Well, I'll definitely not going to go for the same meal I had before that quarterfinals match. The lesson is learned (smiling).

We, since then, we did couple of adjustments on my food, and yeah, just make sure that it's never going to happen again. It's not like I have the feedback -- not the feedback, it's not like I have this memory from the last year, but yeah, I'm trying to do everything as right as possible, make sure nothing gonna happen.

Of course I'm super-motivated, because I felt like last year I was really ready to be in the last stages of the tournament, but yeah, my body didn't really feel the same (smiling).

Yeah, this year I'm motivated more than I was last year.

Q. I just wanted to ask you about being World No. 1. Obviously you have been there for quite a long time now. You're quite established, and you seem very comfortable as World No. 1. A lot of past players maybe have talked about it actually being harder to stay there than to get there. You have the sensation of being chased. It seems like you don't feel that way. Would that be right? Do you have any anxiety about that, or do you just enjoy it?

ARYNA SABALENKA: Honestly, I just love it so much, because, you know, just for me personally, knowing that there is someone chasing me or I'm, like, I have a target on my back right now, I love it. I take it as a challenge. Every time I go out there, I feel like, okay, let's go. Let's see who is ready for the pressure moments.

I take it like that, and it's actually helping me to stay in the moment and to fight, no matter what, on the court.

Q. As a hard working athlete, I'd like to ask you question about infusions. Max Purcell was banned for undergoing two intravenous infusions forbidden under the WADA code. The official ITIA case documents say he feigned injury to justify the infusion and Googled everything over the WADA limit of 100 milliliters that are allowed. Back in the days, infusions were common sense when it was allowed. Since 2005 it's not allowed over 100 milliliters, but they still help for recovery and performance and are not detectable in normal doping tests. I wonder if there is still a problem?

ARYNA SABALENKA: That's a good question. Those things are always changing, and I'm really glad that I have a really good team around me so I can trust them, and I know that, I mean, whatever my team would suggest me, I know that they double-checked a thousand times with the system if we are allowed or not.

So I'm really happy to have my team around. On that case, honestly I don't know what to say. I don't know what was going on there, and I don't usually -- not usually. I never comment on the doping cases, because like you never know. Some things can happen by accident, some things where probably, I don't know, whatever could be there. Yeah, I don't like to comment it.

Q. As you never reached the final here in Roland Garros, would it be a first important step for you, or are you only focused on winning the whole tournament?

ARYNA SABALENKA: I think at this point of my career, yeah, it's all about winning the titles, the big trophies, and I think you have to set up really huge goals for yourself. Yeah, maybe sometimes really crazy goals.

Yeah, I'm more into, like, winning than just reaching the finals, because losing in the final sucks, I hate it, so that's not the goal for me.

Q. What surface has taken you the most work in order to get to a top level with and why?

ARYNA SABALENKA: Definitely clay court, because on clay court, power is not enough. Sometimes you have to build the point three or four times in one point, so you have to physically be ready, mentally be ready. And you have to improve your game as much as possible and you have to have variety in the game to be able to compete on clay court.

Of course, like, physically and mentally, clay court make me work really hard to be good at this surface.

Q. On that, we have seen on other surfaces, but the dropshot, both you and your opponents, there have been match points coming back and forth. How much of that is a thing you work on for the clay?

ARYNA SABALENKA: I'd say it's not like I work on this shot specifically for the clay. I just work on my touch game overall a lot. On the clay court, of course, like, actually not on each clay court surface it works well, but, like, somewhere, like, Rome for example and here, it's really brings a lot of benefits to the game.

I just like to use dropshots more often on clay than, I mean, probably this year on Wimbledon, as well, but yeah, I just use dropshot more often on clay court.

Q. How much do you practice it versus just relying on instinct?

ARYNA SABALENKA: I'd say that let's say not dropshot specifically, but the touch game, I'd say right now we're spending, I don't know, 20% of the time, like, working on the touch game.

Q. Your main opponent on the WTA ranking, Iga Swiatek, is having a kind of tough beginning of year before Roland Garros, but she's really good usually in this tournament. What do you expect from her? And you could face her in semifinal here this year.

ARYNA SABALENKA: Honestly, I don't have any expectations for myself, and of course any expectations from, like, others, for other players.

So I mean, of course I think like everyone, because she was doing really well on this tournament, everyone expect her to win this tournament, and everyone expect really great tennis from her.

I don't know what to say. Like, I don't have any expectations. As I said before, you know, Grand Slams is a tricky tournaments. Everyone feel a lot of pressure, and there is so many upsets on the tournaments I have been recently, on the Grand Slams, so whatever gonna happen gonna happen, and I'd prefer to focus on myself.