Aryna Sabalenka reveals her insights into overcoming the heartbreaking Australian Open final defeat to Madison Keys

World No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka and Madison Keys are both playing right now in Indian Wells.

Aryna Sabalenka reveals her insights into overcoming the heartbreaking Australian Open final defeat to Madison Keys

Aryna Sabalenka, Madison Keys (Image via X)

World No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka enjoyed a strong start to the 2025 season, capturing her 18th career WTA title at Brisbane International. Sabalenka then went on to compete at the Australian Open, where she was aiming for an elusive three-peat. She won her maiden Grand Slam title in 2023, where she defeated Elena Rybakina in the Australian Open finals, and defended her title the next year, defeating Qinwen Zheng in the finals.

However, 2025 was a heartbreaking campaign for Sabalenka in Melbourne as she faced an upset against then 19th-ranked Madison Keys. She lost the tightly contested three-set battle to the American who went on to win her first Grand Slam title. Since this defeat, Sabalenka has struggled quite a bit to regain her form. She spoke to the Indian Wells press conference about overcoming the Australian Open final defeat.

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The Australian Open final was heartbreaking; it was very difficult to recover from that, so in the Middle East, I was trying to understand everything a bit. I kept thinking about that match all the time. That was my mistake, but it was necessary to realize some things; I had to take a step back and start over. Now I feel better; that final is already in the past. It’s just a good experience, a great lesson, although I hope it won’t happen again.

Aryna Sabalenka said

Following her Australian Open swing, Aryna Sabalenka had a disappointing Middle East swing. She went on to compete in the Qatar Open, where she faced a surprising opening round defeat to Ekaterina Alexandrova.

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Sabalenka then competed at the Dubai Tennis Championships. While she made it through her opening round, she lost in the next round to Clara Tauson in straight sets.

Aryna Sabalenka and Madison Keys are into the next round of the Indian Wells

After the Middle East Swing, Aryna Sabalenka is now competing in Indian Wells. In her opening round match at Indian Wells, Sabalenka defeated McCartney Kessler 7(7)-6(4), 6-3.

Aryna Sabalenka
Aryna Sabalenka (via X)

It was a strong serving night for the Belarusian, who hit six aces and won 86% of her first-serve points. Sabalenka sealed the win with a pair of deft backhand volleys on match point to set up a meeting with Italian Lucia Bronzetti. This will mark their third meeting on court with Sabalenka leading their head-to-head 2-0.

Sabalenka’s Australian Open finals opponent Madison Keys also marked her return to the tour with the Indian Wells after clinching her maiden Grand Slam title. Keys crushed Anastasia Potapova 6-3, 6-0 at Indian Wells on Saturday in her first-round match. Next up for world No. 5 Keys is a third-round meeting with Elise Mertens.