Aryna Sabalenka was back in the winning enclosure at the weekend after overcoming Jessica Pegula in the final of the Miami Open.
It’s been a tricky start to 2025 for the world number one.
She was beaten against the odds by Madison Keys in the final of the Australian Open and also lost the Indian Wells final to Mirra Andreeva.
Sabalenka is comfortably the best player in female tennis right now and her game looks in a very healthy place.
At 26-years-old, the player will want to start dominating the WTA circuit and she does feel like becoming a formidable force in 2025.
Rennae Stubbs predicts who would win between Aryna Sabalenka and Serena Williams
It’s fair to say that Sabalenka has some way to go in order to emulate Williams.
The Belarusian performer has three Grand Slam titles to her name and remains 20 short of reaching the total secured by Serena.
Stubbs has come across Williams previously but has never played against Sabalenka, retiring before she came onto the circuit.
She believes, as per The Rennae Stubbs Tennis Podcast, that Williams would have the edge over Sabalenka if the match took place.
Stubbs said: “I said no. I was very adamant about it. The reason I say that is because sometimes with Aryna the serve is a little unpredictable. She also gives you some random free points when it’s an easy forehand and she misses it and you’re like, thanks for that. Then she comes up with 10 that are outstanding.
“But Serena at her peak, and we are talking about her peak, serving was serving you off the court. You were getting aced twice a game without question. I played her a lot of times in doubles and there was one particular time, it was 3-3 in the third, at Wimbledon, Court One. I was the defending doubles champion, I was playing with Corina Morariu against Venus and Serena. It was an unbelievable atmosphere. Wimbledon doubles, sometimes the atmosphere is just awesome and playing the Williams sister we were going to have a packed crowd. The crowd was so loud, there was not a seat available, it was 8:30 or 9 at night. The sun was going down and it was like do we finish this match? We were up 3-2 and Serena had to serve and the WTA supervisor came out and I said we can’t see any more, and she said you have to play one more game because they try and stop on an even rather than with somebody leading.
“I will never forget when we got up from the chair the crowd went bonkers because they were like please don’t stop and they were screaming and Corina and I were trying to talk to each other. We had to scream to get our point across. We get up 0-40. And we were like we are going to be up 4-2 and hopefully come back tomorrow and serve it out. Oh no, ace out wide, ace down the tee, another virtually unplayable serve. Back to deuce in like three seconds. She just went bang, bang, bang and served one more time and probably aced again and then went 3-3. Goodnight. And we came back and lost 6-3 in the third. It was like Serena could do that.”
Sabalenka will crave more Grand Slam titles this year
Pitting two players from different eras against each other is always hypothetical and it’s hard to judge who would win between Sabalenka and Williams.
Given that Serena dominated in a way that Sabalenka hasn’t done just yet, you’d have to favour the American player.
Right now, Sabalenka is very much the woman to beat, however.
She’s in brilliant form and realistically, she could have claimed four titles already this year had the stars aligned differently.
It’s really exciting to see what Sabalenka can achieve between now and the end of the year and it looks pretty nailed on that another Grand Slam title will come her way this in 2025.
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