“Aryna Sabalenka was so sick of losing against Iga Swiatek” – Alize Lim shares Belarusian’s unique training strategy to address struggles against Pole

French tennis player Alize Lim has shed light on Aryna Sabalenka’s unique training strategy to address her struggles against Iga Swiatek. Both Swiatek and Sabalenka have enjoyed immense success during the 2024 season, with the World No. 1 clinching her fourth French Open title and the latter sweeping the two hard-court Slams. The top two players on the women’s tour have developed an intense rivalry, with Swiatek enjoying an 8-4 lead in their head-to-head record. The Pole also emerged victorious in two of their three meetings this season, all of which took place at WTA 1000 events.After suffering back-to-back defeats to the 23-year-old in the Madrid Open and Italian Open finals, Sabalenka claimed a commanding 6-3, 6-3 victory in their semifinal clash at the Cincinnati Open to narrow the gap in their head-to-head record. The Belarusian emphasized how “badly” she wanted to win the match to ensure their rivalry remained “interesting” for fans.

“Especially when someone leads against you 8-3 you kind of feel like, ‘Okay, I gotta, I gotta keep it interesting,'” Aryna Sabalenka told the press. “I gotta get my win so it’s interesting for people to watch us play. So yeah, of course, I wanted this win badly.”
During a recent appearance on the Tennis Channel Inside-In podcast, Alize Lim revealed that Aryna Sabalenka’s determination to overcome her struggles against Iga Swiatek has been years in the making.

Two years ago, in an interview with Lim, the Belarusian revealed that she adopted the strategy of thinking about Swiatek during her training sessions because she was “sick” of constantly losing to the Pole, especially on clay.The Frenchwoman also speculated whether the World No. 1 had a similar mindset regarding her “huge rivalry” with Sabalenka, expressing her appreciation for how they “pushed each other” to improve.
“I remember Aryna Sabalenka telling me in an interview, was it two years ago, that she would think of Iga during practice, during fitness sessions because she was so sick of losing against her on clay and I love that. Maybe it’s the same on the other side. I love that they’re pushing each other and now we have this huge rivalry in women’s tennis,” Lim said.