Aryna Sabalenka has admitted that she was a little careful during the Italian Open final as she didn’t want to worsen the injury although the Belarusian asserted that she didn’t struggle against Iga Swiatek because of the physical issues.
Sabalenka has picked a back injury since the early rounds of Rome Masters and she revealed before the final against the Polish World No. 1that she considered withdrawing from the tourney at one stage.
Though she managed to reach the final of the tournament, but came up short against an inspired Swiatek as the Pole crushed the Belarusian 6-2, 6-3 in the Eternal City of Rome to win back-to-back championship clashes against her.
Sabalenka confirmed afterwards that her performance was affected by the injury.
“When you have some sort of injury and you’re trying to recovery during the tournament, anyways it stays in the back of your mind. You try to kind of, like, protect your body a little bit. So probably in some points there was moments where I could push myself a little bit more but I didn’t want to get injured before Roland Garros,” the World #2 said.
“It’s kind of like affecting you a little bit just by being there in the back of your mind. But I wouldn’t say I lost the match today because of my back. Obviously not.
I think I did pretty well here in Rome struggling with illness, then injury, lots of stuff happened. Anyway, proud of myself that I’ve been able to get to the final, no matter what.”
Following her Madrid and Rome victories, defending champion and WTA #1 Swiatek will head to Roland Garros as the clear favorite with Sabalenka behind her as the world No 2.
Sabalenka, who qualified for the semi-final last year believes it is a tough call to label herself as the underdog.
“I’m not like [an] underdog there. Being No 2 seeded, it’s tough to call yourself ‘underdog’,” she said.
“I’m definitely not the favorite probably there. But at the same time I do feel that I can actually go for it. It’s 50/50, you know? But I prefer to be underdog (smiling).
“I really hope I’m going to make it to the final and I really hope I’ll be able to get that win, if it’s Iga or not. It’s an amazing tournament. It’s a Grand Slam. I’ll just go there and fight for every point and see what happens after the tournament.”