Aryna Sabalenka Excited for Legend Serena Williams’ Shock Comeback: “It’s Very Good News for Tennis”

After keeping the entire tennis world guessing, Serena Williams has finally confirmed that she indeed will be making her comeback! And Aryna Sabalenka, like others, is really excited to see the 23-time Grand Slam singles champion play again.

But whether Sabalenka will get a chance to face Williams for the second time in her career will remain to be seen because the American ace has so far only confirmed her return to doubles. The 44-year-old will pair up with Canadian teenager Victoria Mboko for the Queen’s Club Championships. They will be entering the Queen’s as wild card entrants.

That’s fun. That’s cool. She has a really cool personality. She’s fun. She’s a legend. It’s inspiring to see. I’m actually excited to see her play and probably face her. It’s very cool. It’s very good news for tennis.

Aryna Sabalenka said at her Roland Garros press conference after beating Naomi Osaka

Williams confirmed the rumor in a Nike video with a tagline that read, “Guess everybody heard the news.” The reason behind her return to grass is that the surface has “given me the most meaningful moments of my career.“

The rumors of her comeback started spreading like wildfire when it came to light last December that she had entered the drug testing pool. The seven-time Wimbledon singles champion, and her sister Venus Williams, also remained tight-lipped whenever asked about the comeback topic.

There have been many reports of Williams training in Florida, and once, women’s world No. 79, Alycia Parks, also posted a video of her training session with the former World No.1 in March.

Sabalenka met Williams just once, in the fourth round of the 2021 Australian Open, which the latter won in three sets. Williams, who last lifted a Major at the 2017 Australian Open, last played an official match in the third round of the 2022 US Open.

Naomi Osaka explains why facing Aryna Sabalenka is different

In the French Open fourth round, Aryna Sabalenka clinched a 7-5, 6-3 win over Naomi Osaka to reach the quarterfinals here for the fourth consecutive time. The Japanese ace, on the other hand, played in the last eight in Paris for the first time. At the press conference after her defeat, the former World No.1 explained why facing the current World No.1 is different when compared to other players.

Honestly, I don’t feel like I can play relaxed against her. It’s a very difficult feeling to explain because it’s different from any other player on the circuit. I always play with percentages in mind, always calculating during matches. Sometimes it helps me, and other times it works against me. But when you play against Aryna, it feels like those percentages stop mattering.

The Belarusian ace has improved her head-to-head record over Osaka to 3-1. And this was the third time they met this year, with Sabalenka also winning their previous two matches.

You might be thinking that an opponent will serve wide 75% of the time or will repeat a specific pattern, but against her, many times all of that no longer makes sense.

Naomi Osaka added

Osaka was aiming to end her title drought, with her last tour-level title being the 2021 Australian Open. And since then, she has made two finals (in last year’s ASB Classic and the Canadian Open).

Sabalenka, in the quarterfinals, will be locking horns with Diana Shnaider for the first time in her career. The Russian ace eliminated Madison Keys in the previous round. Last year at the French Open, Sabalenka finished as the runner-up, losing to Coco Gauff, whose run this year was ended by Anastasia Potapova in the third round.

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