Aryna Sabalenka has revealed she made a “small adjustment” to her tennis racket ahead of her Indian Wells triumph and current Miami Open campaign.
World No 1 Sabalenka saw off world No 2 and current leading rival Elena Rybakina to lift the title in Indian Wells earlier this month, saving a championship point and earning revenge for her Australian Open final loss to the Kazakh.
The four-time Grand Slam singles champion is now looking to complete the Sunshine Double at the Miami Open, where she is also the defending champion, and has yet to drop a set during her campaign in Florida.
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Sabalenka produced arguably her best tennis of the tournament to defeat Zheng Qinwen 6-3, 6-4 in fourth-round action on Monday, and will now face Hailey Baptiste in the quarter-final on Wednesday.
The 27-year-old has played with the Wilson Blade 98 frame for multiple years, though she has notably been using a blacked-out version of the frame during her Indian Wells and Miami campaigns.
Speaking to Tennis Channel following her victory over Qinwen on Monday, the world No 1 revealed she had made a “brave” change ahead of the Sunshine swing in the US.
“Maybe I did a small adjustment on my racket,” said Sabalenka.
“I feel like there is always going to be the moment where you feel like you can improve in these little, but not little, things.
“I was brave enough before Indian Wells to do [a] small adjustment on my racket, and I’m super happy that I did it.”
Sabalenka’s campaign in Indian Wells was her first tournament since her defeat to Rybakina in the Australian Open final, having chosen to skip WTA 1000 events in Doha and Dubai last month.
The world No 1 has lost a string of big matches over the past 15 months, most notably losing to Rybakina in both the WTA Finals and Australian Open final, Coco Gauff in the 2025 French Open final, and Madison Keys in the 2025 Australian Open final.
Reflecting on her decision to make changes to her racket, Sabalenka was hesitant to offer too much information publicly — but conceded that high-profile defeats had fuelled her desire for improvement.
She added: “I’m not going to open all of the cards.
“I just felt like there’s few things in my game where players were trying to… I don’t know, beat me through few things.
“I felt like there is couple things that I could do in the racket to feel more confident and feel more comfortable in those particular shots… So I adjusted the racket and it really helped a lot.”
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