Aryna Sabalenka lightheartedly commented on Roger Federer attending her US Open quarterfinal match because the Belarusian tennis star remarked she thought the Swiss tennis icon most likely got here for the Grigor Dimitrov and Frances Tiafoe match however that did not cease her from wanting to place up a present for the previous 20-time Grand Slam champion.
Within the first match of Tuesday’s night session at Flushing Meadows, the No. 2 seed routinely booked a semifinal ticket after destroying seventh-seeded Zheng Qinwen 6-1 6-2. And all of it occurred in entrance of one of many best gamers ever, who famously received 5 consecutive US Open titles between 2004 and 2008.
“Yeah, I noticed, I noticed him there, noticed him on the large display screen. I imply, I am fairly positive he got here to observe Tiafoe and Dimitrov, however nonetheless, I used to be like, okay, ‘I’ve to play my finest tennis so he enjoys it. I’ve to indicate my expertise,’ , slice expertise, come to the online and all that stuff. (Laughter.) Yeah, that was a pleasant second. Good to see him round,” Sabalenka mentioned.
Contemplating how properly the No. 2 performed towards this yr’s Australian Open runner-up, it’s secure to say that Federer was most likely left impressed with the two-time Grand Slam champion’s efficiency.
In every of the 2 units, Sabalenka earned two breaks with out dropping a single sport on her serve and she or he wanted simply an hour and 13 minutes to arrange a semifinal assembly towards world No. 12 Emma Navarro.
Sabalenka provides her verdict on the standard of girls’s tennis
During the last couple of years, Iga Swiatek has been probably the most profitable participant on the WTA Tour however a number of different gamers – together with the Belarusian – have managed to realize success on the most important stage. And in contrast to in sure moments up to now when Serena Williams was just about an enormous favourite going into each Slam, the scenario is now completely different as there are all the time a few authentic contenders for Main and WTA 1000 titles.
All of that led to some claiming that girls’s tennis has advanced to the purpose the place it may be acknowledged that as we speak’s stage of the sport is healthier than ever.
“Nicely, it’s totally robust for me to check, as a result of like 5 years in the past I used to be a totally completely different participant and I noticed stuff in a different way than I see it proper now. However I positively see quite a lot of enchancment within the girls’s tennis. Everyone seems to be getting mentally stronger. Everybody is aware of how you can play tennis. I feel tennis is far quicker proper now. Speaking about pace and the best way everybody strikes. There are statistics,” Sabalenka defined.
“You recognize, like, everybody sort of is aware of one another, and it is all about these key moments within the match who’s gonna deal with that stress second higher. However I positively suppose that girls’s tennis improved lots, and it is extra enjoyable to observe, particularly, like, deeper levels of the tournaments. I feel it is actually enjoyable to observe. Yeah, I see huge progress.”
Aryna Sabalenka says she sees huge progress in girls’s tennis, ‘I feel tennis is far quicker proper now… it’s actually enjoyable to observe’
“Typically talking, whenever you see the present WTA Tour, and also you evaluate present tennis to 4 or 5 years in the past, do you see any variations in… pic.twitter.com/sJ9J2tQD8d
— The Tennis Letter (@TheTennisLetter) September 4, 2024
Does Swiatek agree with Sabalenka?
A day earlier, Swiatek ousted Liudmila Samsonova within the US Open round-of-16 and was afterward requested the identical query. Reflecting on it, the 23-year-old Pole mentioned she agrees that the ladies’s sport is continually evolving however famous that she could not be making such enormous statements just because it is “exhausting for me to guage.”
“However for positive that you must get higher, as a result of I’d say, like, attending to No. 1, it occurred immediately for me, however at first I really feel like my opponents did not actually know what to anticipate from me and the way I play. I feel, like, 2023 was difficult as a result of I had a goal on my again and likewise gamers truly discovered my sport type, so I feel you all the time must, yeah, study and attempt to have extra selection and plenty of choices on the court docket, as a result of it is not like you possibly can hold taking part in the identical tennis. Individuals will determine it out, and it’ll be a lot tougher to win,” Swiatek defined.
In the meantime, Sabalenka and Swiatek are inching nearer to establishing their first Grand Slam remaining assembly on the US Open.
