Aryna Sabalenka has dominated on hard courts over the last two years.
An impressive 65-15 in that time, the world No.2 has also won three of four Grand Slam titles on the surface.
Her sustained success over this period highlights Sabalenka’s transformation into one of the best players on tour.
An inability to close out matches from favourable positions previously deprived her of this success, but Todd Woodbridge has praised the US Open champion’s turnaround.
Speaking on The AO Show Weekly podcast, the 22-time major doubles champion believes Sabalenka’s superior mindset has her destined for more silverware.
“It looks like she’s going to win more [Grand Slams]. Three doesn’t seem like a ceiling at all for Sabalenka,” Woodbridge said following her US Open final victory over Jessica Pegula.
LISTEN: The AO Show Weekly podcast
“She’s very resilient. Some of the finals she lost [she] really imploded in and to have the mental fortitude to be able to bounce back, learn from it, put something in place … shows that she [has] learned and she gets better from those experiences.”
Casey Dellacqua echoed Woodbridge, naming Sabalenka the overwhelming favourite for Australian Open 2025.
Dellacqua said the 26-year-old’s consistency on hard court trumps that of the other contenders.
“There are so many question marks over so many other players. I think Sabalenka goes in as by far the favourite for the Australian Open,” she said on the same podcast episode.
MORE: Australian Open 2025 tickets on sale in October
“There’s names in the draw but when you think about big hitting, powerful hitting, mental fortitude, I think Sabalenka is by far the favourite.”
Also catching Dellacqua’s eye was world No.51 Karolina Muchova, after the Czech reached the US Open semifinals for a second consecutive year.
“Muchova for me was super impressive,” said Dellacqua of the former top-10 star.
“When she is playing her best tennis, she would consistently be in the top 10 and we saw real glimpses of that during the US Open.”