Sabalenka: "Rome is a tournament tougher than Madrid in terms of physicality"

The world number one started with great speed in her debut at WTA Rome 2025 after conquering the trophy in the Madrid tournament. Aryna Sabalenka doesn't slow down and presents herself as a strong contender in the Italian event, where she now meets Sofia Kenin. Just moments after her first victory in this edition of the tournament in Rome, the Belarusian sat down with Tennis Channel to share her feelings. 

Differences between Madrid and Rome

"I had to adapt my game, the conditions are completely different here in Rome. I am very pleased to have been able to achieve this victory. It's much slower here, the ball bounce is much higher in Madrid, here everything is lower. Everything is much slower, you have to work really hard in every exchange. I would say it's physically tougher here. You have to work hard to earn every point."

The importance of recovery

"Every day I wake up and check how many hours I've slept, stress metrics. I like to know when I'm under a lot of stress to learn to manage my energy better. It serves us both me and my team well. We don't adjust our training based on those data, but this week, for example, they changed my schedule because I needed more rest.

At the beginning of tournaments, my numbers are low, and I perform well, and then, towards the end of the tournaments, for some reason, my numbers shoot up and I still perform well. The day I finish the tournament, my numbers are in the red, I need like two days to recover and be ready again."

This is an automatic translation. You can read the original news, Sabalenka: "Roma es un torneo más duro que Madrid a nivel físico"