Aryna Sabalenka said Tuesday she was feeling “fresh” as she prepared for her first tournament since being ousted as the world’s number one player.<\/p>\n
The four-time Grand Slam winner topped the rankings for 99 weeks before ceding her position to Kazakhstan’s Elena Rybakina<\/a>, who also beat her in the US Open final this month.<\/p>\n It means Sabalenka<\/a> has not won a title since March and will end the year without a major for the first time since 2022.<\/p>\n “This time I feel like, because I didn’t play that many matches, I feel fresh,” the 28-year-old Belarusian told reporters ahead of the China Open in Beijing.<\/p>\n Despite a lacklustre few months by her standards, her New York showing was “the moment when I started to feel healthier and stronger”, she said.<\/p>\n “The middle part of the season… didn’t go that well. I struggled a little bit with different stuff.<\/p>\n “At the US Open I started to enjoy tennis again because of being healthy mentally and physically.”<\/p>\n Sabalenka, who withdrew from Beijing last year due to injury, begins her bid for a first title there in the round of 64, against either Hungary’s Anna Bondar<\/a> or Mexico’s Renata Zarazua<\/a>.<\/p>\n She is seeded second behind Rybakina, who faces either Yulia Starodubtseva<\/a> of Ukraine or Alina Charaeva<\/a> of Armenia.<\/p>\n Last year’s champion Amanda Anisimova<\/a> will not be taking part, having announced on social media that she was ending her season early over a wrist injury.<\/p>\n