Aryna Sabalenka enjoying ‘chilled’ rivalry with Iga Swiatek

The Belarusian has won the past two titles at Melbourne Park and could become the first woman since Martina Hingis from 1997 to 1999 to win three Australian Open crowns in succession.

But she insisted that she was not focusing on that milestone.

“Honestly, I didn’t know about that till probably a few days ago when I saw it on Twitter,” she said.

“I mean, it’s a little bit cool to achieve such an incredible goal, a dream of so many young players. But once again, I think I better focus on myself. If I’ll be able to bring my best tennis, I know that I’m able to do that.”

Sabalenka also said heading into the Australian swing as world No. 1 made no difference to her approach.

“It doesn’t matter what’s your ranking,” she added. “You have to go there, compete, fight, do your best. It doesn’t matter whether you’re one, two, three or 100.”

Meanwhile in the men’s game, Casper Ruud admitted that Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz were on a different plane, but the Norwegian is confident he can return to the world’s top five this season and again challenge the best.

“If you end the year top 10 it’s been a good year, but I think that top five is also doable, reachable definitely,” he said in Sydney at the United Cup, when asked about his 2025 goals.

“If you look at the players, in my eyes Jannik and Carlos had two phenomenal years, both of them.

“Those two are what most people are looking to these days. They will be tough to handle, but other than that, I think it’s open for changes in the top five.”

Sinner is currently world No. 1 by more than 3,000 ranking points from Alexander Zverev, with Alcaraz third, Taylor Fritz fourth and Daniil Medvedev fifth. AFP.