Sabalenka glad to be back on hard courts & feeling confident ahead of Canadian & US Opens

[p]The 28-year-old Belarusian failed to reach ‌the quarter-finals at Wimbledon last month and was defeated in the quarters at the French ‌Open in June. In January, she lost in the final at ‌the Australian Open.[/p][p][b]“I have huge hopes,” [/b][a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/sabalenka-aryna/vyhksgUB/"]Sabalenka[/a] told reporters in Toronto of ‌returning to the hard court for the Canadian Open, where she ‌will play her opening match on Tuesday.[/p][p][b]“I wouldn’t say that clay and grass... was that bad. I was trying a couple things, things didn’t go the way ‌I expected.[/b][/p][p][b]“And now we’re kind of back to ⁠the basics, and I really hope ‌it’s going to work out well on the hard court again.”’[/b][/p][p]That meant bringing ​back the baseline game and making sure she was confident there, she said.[/p][p]Sabalenka said the run-in to the US Open could ​be tricky for players, especially those who had gone far at previous tournaments.[/p][p][b]“If you go far in the grass court, you feel really ⁠fatigued and you’re not ​able to pull out any good tennis,”[/b] she said, before adding with a laugh: [b]“But this year I didn’t do well, so I’m here.”[/b][/p][p]She said she was in good spirits after some much-needed rest, and had suffered physically ‌and mentally during the summer swing but was eager to get back on court.[/p][embed guid="aeb634e4-6be9-4f51-b93e-fc0504a7e945" url="https://x.com/usopen/status/2081787771660730780" social-type="twitter" /][p]She will play mixed doubles with [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/djokovic-novak/AZg49Et9/"]Novak[/a] Djokovic at the US Open, in the week before the singles matches begin on August 30.[/p][p][b]“I’m pretty excited. I think it’s going to fun,” [/b]Sabalenka said[b]. “Playing with Novak is always fun... We’re chasing (the) title, that’s our goal, I believe, so it’s going to fun and intense.”[/b][/p][p]Asked about the WTA’s updated eligibility policy which will require players to clear a one-time gene test ‌to compete on the women’s tour, Sabalenka said she supported it.[/p][p]“I ​think it’s really important to keep the fairness in our tour,” ‌she said. “It’s obviously, biologically, the men are way stronger than women, so I feel like it would be not really fair for the woman to compete against (a) biological man.”[/p][p]In December, Sabalenka lost 6-3, 6-3 to [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/kyrgios-nick/fudxgwDF/"]Nick Kyrgios[/a] in a controversial "Battle of the Sexes" exhibition ⁠match in Dubai, which critics ⁠described as a publicity stunt ‌that risked trivialising the women's game.[/p]