Sabalenka pleased to serve as RG target

Aryna Sabalenka is pleased to let the rest of the French Open field go big game hunting when the clay-court fortnight begins on Sunday in Paris.

The world No.1 is hoping to bounce back after a Rome quarter-final loss and remains unworried as she plays as top seed for a second straight major.

“I just love it so much,” she said on Friday. “Knowing that there is someone chasing me… like, I have a target on my back right now, 

“I love it. I take it as a challenge.”

The double Australian Open champion who reached the Roland Garros semis in 2023 added: “Every time I go out there, I feel like, okay, let’s go. Let’s see who is ready for the pressure moments.

“I take it like that, and it’s actually helping me to stay in the moment and to fight, no matter what, on the court.”

Sabalenka will begin her campaign against Kamilla Rakhimova.

She is hoping for better luck than in her quarter-final loss here a year ago to teenaged Mirra Andreeva, blaming a poor pre-match meal choice for part of her problems on the day.

During the loss she was visited by the trainer, took tablets and clutched at her mid-section on the way to defeat.

“I’ll definitely not go for the same meal I had before that quarter-finals match.

The lesson is learned,” she said.

“Since then, we did a couple of adjustments to my food to just make sure that it’s never going to happen again. I

It’s not like I have this memory from the last year, but yeah, I’m trying to do everything as right as possible, make sure nothing’s gonna happen.

“I’m super-motivated, because I felt like last year I was really ready to be in the last stages of the tournament, but my body didn’t really feel the same (about it) (smiling).

“This year I’m motivated more than I was last year.”

Main photo:-Aryna Sabalenka won Madrid Open title 2025 – by ISF Ltd