Aryna Sabalenka will enter the 2026 Australian Open as a heavy favorite to win and got her season off to a fine start by winning the Brisbane International. The Belarusian star, who shares a notable rivalry with Iga Świątek, recently shared her thoughts on the competition in the women’s game and how it doesn’t revolve solely around them.
Aryna Sabalenka Reveals the Diversity of WTA Feuding While Reflecting on Her Rivalry With Iga Świątek, Coco Gauff, and Others
Sabalenka began her 2026 season in Brisbane, competing in both singles and doubles. In singles, she beat Cristina Bucșa, Sorana Cîrstea, Madison Keys, and Karolína Muchová to reach the final. She successfully defended her title after overcoming Marta Kostyuk with a score of 6-4, 6-3.
The Minsk native, who is entering the first Grand Slam of the year as the top seed, recently shared her thoughts on her rivalry with Świątek, whom she has played 13 times in her career so far, trailing 5-8. The duo competed only once in 2025, with Sabalenka beating the Pole in the semifinals of the French Open.
While expressing her views on Świątek in her pre-tournament press conference, the World No. 1 also mentioned that the WTA’s elite competition doesn’t just spin around them, as many players are dominating equally. Furthermore, she added that she shares intense rivalries with multiple players, including Coco Gauff, Jessica Pegula, Elena Rybakina, and others.
She said: “It’s not only about me and Iga. There’s Coco, Elena, Jessica..I don’t want to forget about anyone right now. It’s not only about me and her. It’s crazy to think we only played once last year. We haven’t played this year yet. I hope we’re gonna play more often this season. As I said, it’s not only about us. There are so many players I also have a great rivalry with.”
Aryna Sabalenka was asked how she feels about her rivalry with Iga Swiatek right now:
“It’s not only about me and Iga. There’s Coco, Elena, Jessica.. I don’t want to forget about anyone right now. It’s not only about me and her. It’s crazy to think we only played once last year.… pic.twitter.com/jHuwrj4EXd
— The Tennis Letter (@TheTennisLetter) January 16, 2026
Against Gauff, Sabalenka has played 12 matches, with both winning 6 matches each. They last competed in the round robin of the WTA Finals, with the World No. 1 winning. The two also played out a tightly-contested French Open final and Gauff came out on top.
Sabalenka leads her head-to-head with Pegula by 9-3, and has an 8-6 lead over Rybakina. The Kazakh, however, won their most recent encounter to win the WTA Final in Riyadh.
Sabalenka will face World No. 118 Tiantsoa Rakotomanga Rajaonah in the first round of the Australian Open, with the winner taking on either Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova or Zhuoxuan Bai in the second round.
