During the years 2017-2019 I wrote a blog on the WTA, the Women’s Tennis
Association called “John Farley’s Spotlight: WTA.” The “kicker” on the blog is:
“John Farley comments on the WTA: its policies, programs, tournaments,
matches, players, and whatever else pops up in the professional women’s tennis
world that looks like it might be fun or edifying to write about.”
In 2018 I wrote a blogpost on an unknown 19-year-old tennis player from Belarus,
Aryna Sabalenka. She was 19. I saw her in a Fed Cup match (now called the Billie
Jean King Cup) and I could see that she had it. She was displaying raw power, but
you could see that with a little grooming, she could become a major force in the
women’s game.
As of this writing and 5 years after I wrote the blogpost, Sabalenka is #2 in the
world, and knocking on the door of #1 at the French Open now underway in Paris.
As many of you probably know, Iga Swiatek is #1, a status she inherited when the
then #1 Ashleigh Barty retired from the game after winning her home tournament
last year in Melbourne, the Australian Open.
Sabalenka has been closing the rankings gap between her and Swiatek over the
year with her victories at the Australian Open 2023 and on the clay in Madrid
where she beat Swiatek and finalist showings at Indian Wells and the Porsche
Tennis Grand Prix in Stuttgart.
However, Swiatek has been dominant and the pick to win in Paris, but right now
Sabalenka is on her game and depending on how deep each of them goes into the
tournament, Sabalenka could emerge #1, punctuating my prediction of 5 years
ago.
Here is that blogpost I wrote on Aryna Sabalenka in 2018 when she was only 19:
(Note: If you would like to read other blogposts I’ve written on the WTA, please
refer to the right side-bar menu on the blogpost below. Among them, I have
written 7 blogposts on the benefits of TM for the professional tennis player.)
John Farley’s Spotlight: WTA: John Farley Spotlight WTA: Aryna Sabalenka
====