Aryna Sabalenka Predicts her Matchup With Serena Williams Amid Rumors of a Comeback

Aryna Sabalenka and Serena Williams have only played once on the WTA Tour.

Aryna Sabalenka Predicts her Matchup With Serena Williams Amid Rumors of a Comeback

Aryna Sabalenka and Serena Williams (via Tennis365)

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Let’s get one thing straight: Serena Williams isn’t coming back. The queen of tennis hung up her racket in 2022, and despite the internet losing its collective mind over her re-entering the drug-testing pool, she shut that noise down with a tweet.

During a recent chat with Piers Morgan, Aryna Sabalenka was asked the million-dollar question: what if? What if Williams actually came back, and the two titans faced off? Sabalenka, ever the cool-headed competitor, gave the most politically correct, yet tantalizingly confident, answer possible. Sabalenka said on Piers Morgan Uncensored Show:

From what I know, not at all. But she applied so it means that she is planning to play something, that’s for sure. Maybe for the Olympics it is too early, but maybe the US Open next year. You never know. But it’s going to be fun to watch. I mean, I cannot predict that. But I would definitely go out there and give my very best. I know that at my very best I can beat anyone.

It’s a quiet declaration that she belongs in the same conversation, that she has the tools to take down anyone, including one of the best of all time. It’s the kind of confidence one needs to have to be a multi-Grand Slam champion.

A look back: The lone, epic encounter between Aryna Sabalenka and Serena Williams

This whole fantasy matchup isn’t just pulled from thin air. There is actually a data point, a single, glorious match where these two power-hitters collided.

It happened at the 2021 Australian Open, in the fourth round. It was a clash of generations: Serena Williams, the established legend hunting for that record-tying 24th Grand Slam, against Aryna Sabalenka, the ferocious up-and-comer on the verge of breaking into the absolute elite.

Serena Williams
Serena Williams (Image via X/We Are Tennis France)

The match was everything fans could have hoped for. It was a three-set war of attrition, with both players trading punishing groundstrokes and thunderous serves. In the end, Williams’ experience and legendary grit won out, as she clinched a tight deciding set to advance. She would go on to the semifinals before falling to Naomi Osaka.

Why can’t one let go of the Serena Williams comeback story

So, if Serena Williams herself has slammed the door on a return, why does the topic keep resurfacing? For over two decades, Williams was a force of nature, a cultural icon who transcended the sport. Her retirement left a void that, with all due respect to the incredible talent on tour today, can never truly be filled.

Serena Williams
Serena Williams

Aryna Sabalenka is the perfect foil in this fantasy. She embodies the raw power and aggressive, baseline-thumping style that Serena perfected. She’s the heir apparent to the “power tennis” throne. A match between them would be less a tennis match and more a heavyweight prize fight.

It’s a compelling story, even if it’s pure fiction. For now, one will just have to settle for the what-ifs and re-watch that 2021 Aussie Open classic, a tantalizing taste of a rivalry that was gone too soon.

Also Read: Top Journalist Slams Battle of the Sexes Between Aryna Sabalenka and Nick Kyrgios as Aussie ‘Represents Misogyny’