Former World No. 1 Victoria Azarenka recently compared Aryna Sabalenka’s forehand to that of American Tommy Paul during a conversation with Daria Kasatkina on her YouTube channel. Asked who hits the ball harder, Azarenka gave a surprising take on each player’s groundstrokes.
“She’s strong too,” Azarenka said of her fellow Belarusian. “There are two ways of looking at it—heaviness and speed. I think there are people who can play faster, but not as heavy. Aryna plays heavy… and fast,” she explained.
Speaking about Paul, currently ranked No. 12 in the world. “Tommy plays the forehand, [it] can be heavy. Backhand fast, backhand is not that heavy. Forehand can be heavy,” she said.
Azarenka has played Sabalenka six times, only winning one match. Meanwhile, she has trained with Paul on multiple occasions and has also shown public support for him. For example, she was in his player’s box at the Madrid Open.
When Sabalenka outpowered the men at the US Open
At last year’s US Open, Sabalenka recorded an average forehand speed of 80 mph, which was faster than the tournament averages of top male players including Carlos Alcaraz, Novak Djokovic, and Jannik Sinner. For comparison, the ATP reported in October that the average forehand speed among the top 10 male players was 75 mph.
“I saw my stats on my forehead, and I actually can’t believe it’s that fast. I feel kind of uncomfortable being on the top and even hitting it harder than the guys. That’s really interesting,” she said during an on-court interview.
Following her recent title in Madrid, Sabalenka heads into Roland Garros as one of the favorites. The tournament begins May 25, and she will be looking to win her fourth Grand Slam and extend the momentum that has put her among the most dominant players on tour.