Tim Henman thinks Aryna Sabalenka has made a ‘very bizarre’ change to her game despite reaching Australian Open final

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Aryna Sabalenka now finds herself in a third successive Australian Open final after knocking out Paula Badosa in Melbourne.

Sabalenka and Badosa are close friends, but the WTA number one showed no mercy as she beat the Spaniard 6-4, 6-2 in their semi-final.

It was a sixth consecutive Grand Slam hard court semi-final for Sabalenka, who is the two-time defending champion at the Grand Slam.

Sabalenka is the top seed in Melbourne, and entered the competition as the champion of the Brisbane International.

The three-time Grand Slam champion has dropped just one set so far at the tournament, picking up straight set wins against the likes of Mirra Andreeva and Sloane Stephens.

Tim Henman suggests ‘bizarre’ Aryna Sabalenka higher ball toss at Australian Open

But despite that run, former British number one Tim Henman has questioned a serving change made by the Belarusian.

She has raised her ball toss, and this season has held serve 70% of the time compared to 90% last season.

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“To me it is very bizarre,” Henman said on Eurosport. “With a higher ball toss in the wind it’s harder so therefore it’s harder to time when the ball is coming down from a greater height.

“I think about what [Alexander] Zverev has done. His ball toss was similar, it was very, very high. He struggled with it and it has almost speeded up the rhythm on his serve and he is serving way better.”

Former world number one John McEnroe then shared his verdict on Sabalenka’s change, saying: “If you had told me it was higher last year I would have said that makes sense, she has lowered her toss a little bit. So that I wouldn’t get.

“To me it’s just a mental thing again. Maybe she is playing a little safer, hitting her spots and giving herself a bit more margin for error.”

Aryna Sabalenka serve stats in Australian Open semi-final win vs Paula Badosa

Sabalenka’s serve struggled in the wind earlier on in the Australian Open, but she still managed to progress and is now into another final in Melbourne.

She beat Elena Rybakina and Qinwen Zheng to lift the trophy in 2023 and 2024 respectively, having lost the 2023 US Open final to Coco Gauff in between.

READ MORE: Aryna Sabalenka says she did something ‘crazy’ in her Australian Open quarter-final win that surprised her

But the Belarusian recovered in New York to beat Jessica Pegula in the 2024 final, and has now continued that hard-court form into the first Grand Slam of 2025.

Just one hour and 26 minutes were required to clinch a final spot, but Sabalenka’s serving wasn’t exactly at its electric-best against Badosa.