Martina Navratilova Picks Aryna Sabalenka and Elena Rybakina as Indian Wells Favorites
Aryna Sabalenka will be back on tour in Indian Wells after skipping the Qatar Open and Dubai Tennis Championships.
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Elena Rybakina, Aryna Sabalenka, and Martina Navratilova (via X/The Tennis Letter/BBC)
18-time Grand Slam champion Martina Navratilova has chosen Aryna Sabalenka and Elena Rybakina as frontrunners to win the 2025 Indian Wells Open. The tennis legend, who won the title in 1990 and 1991 believes that the pair are the best in-form players currently in the women’s circuit heading to the Sunshine Doubles.
The Indian Wells Open also known as Tennis Paradise is one of the most popular tournaments in the tennis calendar. Players often battle hard to win the tournament in the California desert. Rybakina won the event in 2023 after beating Sabalenka in the final and the World No.1 finished as runners-up for the second time in 2025.
Sabalenka has not competed on tour since losing to Rybakina in the final of the Australian Open in January. The 27-year-old withdrew from the Qatar Open and the Dubai Tennis Championships due to injury and the fact that she didn’t have a lot of points to defend at the tournament. She will be back on the court in Indian Wells.
Also, Rybakina didn’t perform at her best during the Middle East swing. She fell ill after her Australian Open triumph, which disrupted her form at the Qatar Open, where she got to the quarter-finals before losing to Victoria Mboko in three sets. In Dubai, she was forced to retire in the round of 16.
Rybakina and Sabalenka will hope to reclaim their form at the Indian Wells Open, which starts on March 4. During an interview with WTA, Martina Navratilova revealed that the pair are the favorites to win the WTA 1000 tournament and that if Rybakina is fully healthy she can win the title:
She was holding her nerves better than Sabalenka in the final and won in three. She was ill after Australia, which happens a lot. It’s normal to get sick after a major. More often than not, I got sick after Wimbledon and the US Open because the body just goes. After skipping Abu Dhabi, I’m hoping her immune system is OK. You still have to go with Sabalenka because she’s got the weapons. Right now, the way everything is going, if Rybakina is fully healthy, they are the top two players, clear frontrunners.
Nonetheless, winning the Indian Wells is one of the toughest challenges on tour. The hard court used in the event is a slow surface and the official ball is Dunlop balls. Dunlop balls are known to bounce high and spin too much. So, when used on a slow court, it makes the game slower for players who often like a fast game.
Martina Navratilova explains the reason behind Coco Gauff’s serving troubles
Coco Gauff is having a hard time dealing with her serving technique this season. Despite hiring Gavin MacMillan, who helped improve Aryna Sabalenka’s serve and made her one of the best servers on tour, the Biomechanics expert seems not to be getting the best out of Gauff on the court.
She has hit over 80 unforced errors on the court this season, more than any player in the top 100, which is totally unusual. Her serving issues were heavily scrutinized last year in August but there have been no progressive changes made about it. During the aforementioned interview, Martina Navratilova revealed Gauff’s serving issues have become a mental struggle rather than a technique:
Technically Sabalenka was all over the map with her technique when she was double faulting. Now she’s got that solved. With Coco, as far as I can see, the technique is fine. Sometimes it can become mental when the technique is OK. As soon as you think, ‘I don’t want to double fault’ — you double fault. It’s a self-fulfilling prophecy. She’s only 21 … I think she’ll get it straightened out.
Gauff was the highest-ranked player at the Dubai Tennis Championships after Elena Rybakina retired in the round of 16, but the American star failed to take her opportunity at the event, crashing out in the semi-finals after losing to Elina Svitolina. She’s yet to win a tour-level title this year.
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