Aryna Sabalenka heads into the clay-court swing of the season in sensational form.
After all, she has just completed the Sunshine Double with minimal fuss, having lost just two matches all year thus far.
And, there’s reason to believe that such form will not relent as the surface shifts. In fact, it could be argued that she is only set to dominate further.
Aryna Sabalenka has little competition on the clay-court swing
The main reason why Aryna Sabalenka is expected to thrive on clay is the lack of competition she is set to face.
After all, her main competitor this year, Elena Rybakina, has not been a consistent threat on the dirt throughout her career.
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She has won titles on this surface, namely in Rome in 2023, but has not threatened for elite clay-court honours for some time.
Sabalenka, meanwhile, shone in 2025 at almost every event.
Other players expected to compete are Iga Swiatek and Coco Gauff, but both are going through their own respective crises that lessen their chances of regularly challenging for titles.
Amanda Anisimova and Jessica Pegula have both proven their ability to challenge the Belarusian on their day, but the last time either of them beat her on clay was back in 2022.
How Aryna Sabalenka performed on clay in 2025
The other big factor leading Sabalenka’s likelihood to thrive this clay-court season is how she performed last year. It certainly bodes well for her chances this season, given she is heading into these events in better form than she was the previous year.
In 2025, the 27-year-old started her swing at the BOSS Open, where she surprisingly lost in the final to Jelena Ostapenko.
She then followed that up with a faultless run in Madrid, dropping just a single set on her way to the title.
The Italian Open did not quite go to plan, losing in the quarter-finals, before Sabalenka made it all the way to the final of Roland Garros. There, she simply failed to deal with the adverse conditions, losing to Coco Gauff in a match she definitely should have won.
Sabalenka’s reaction to her loss to Gauff did not go down well, and should provide further fuel for her to right those wrongs.
This year, the opportunity to avenge her defeats from the campaign prior is perfect. Nobody will stand in her way this time.
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