Aryna Sabalenka

Sabalenka began playing tennis at the age of six after her father, Sergey, drove past tennis courts in Minsk and decided to send her to classes. She later trained at the National Tennis Academy in Minsk and made her ITF Circuit debut in 2012.

Her breakthrough came in 2017, when she helped lead the Belarus Fed Cup team to a runner-up finish alongside Aliaksandra Sasnovich. Both players were ranked outside the top 75 at the time, making the result a major upset. That season, Sabalenka reached her first WTA-level final in Tianjin, won the WTA 125 title in Mumbai, and broke into the world's top 100.

Sabalenka's rise continued in 2018, when she won titles in New Haven and Wuhan, recorded 46 match victories, and finished the season ranked No. 11. She made her top-10 debut in January 2019 after reaching the third round of the Australian Open, then won three singles titles in China at Shenzhen, Wuhan, and the WTA Elite Trophy in Zhuhai.

She won her first Grand Slam singles title at the 2023 Australian Open after defeating Elena Rybakina in the final. She also reached the US Open final that year and became the WTA world No. 1 after the tournament. In 2024, she defended her Australian Open title, won the US Open, and added WTA titles in Cincinnati and Wuhan before finishing the season as the WTA year-end No. 1 for the first time.

Sabalenka began playing doubles regularly in 2019 with Elise Mertens. The pair won the Indian Wells and Miami titles to complete the Sunshine Double, then captured the US Open doubles championship. They won a second Grand Slam together at the 2021 Australian Open, where Sabalenka also won the Berlin doubles title with Victoria Azarenka.

Known as an aggressive baseliner, Sabalenka builds her game around a powerful serve and forceful groundstrokes aimed at producing winners. She has a tiger tattoo on her left arm, which earned her the nickname "The Tiger." Her professional coaching team has included Anton Dubrov, while Dmitry Tursunov and Didi Kindlmann previously coached her.