New York--last stop on Sabalenka's quest to win a major in 2025

Aryna Sabalenka on realizing there's been 10 Women's single champions in the last 11 years at #USOpen
"My hopes... to change that, that's insane how unpredictable women tennis is" " let's ignore this statistics " KRKRKRK 😭😭🤣🤣🤣 pic.twitter.com/Z7ztLVXcqJ

— Liviefromparis 🇫🇷🤸🏼‍♀️🎾 (@Livieparis2024) August 22, 2025

World number 1 Aryna Sabalenka has had a year of "almost" with regard to the majors. She lost the Australian Open final to Madison Keys and the French Open final to Coco Gauff. At Wimbledon, she lost in the semifinals to Amanda Anisimova. Sabalenka is the defending champion at the U.S. Open; last year, she defeated Jessica Pegula to win the title.  

For some time, Sabalenka was so far ahead of everyone else in ranking points that she was a lock at number 1. But now, there are some contingencies: If she doesn't make it to the quarterfinals of the U.S. Open, either former world number 1 Iga Swiatek or Coco Gauff could become number 1 by winning the tournament. If, however, Sabalenka reaches the quarterfinals (a very likely scenario), she has a lock on the number 1 spot, no matter who wins the Open.

Sabalenka's quarter includes Clara Tauson, Elena Rybakina, Emma Raducanu, Marketa Vondrousova, and Jasmine Paolini, as well as 2021 finalist Leylah Fernandez, Elise Mertens, and Alexandra Eala.

2022 champion Swiatek, like Sabalenka before her, arrives in New York with a fresh Cincinnati title--her first. And 2023 champion Gauff arrives with a new coach. Gauff has parted ways with Matt Daly, and has hired biomechanics coach Gavin MacMillan. MacMillan was the coach who helped Sabalenka overcome her services issues. And since her double-faulting is Gauff's biggest problem these days, bringing on MacMillan makes sense. 

The Open begins tomorrow, August 26. Here are some interesting first rounds to watch:

Alexandra Eala v. Clara Tauson (14)
Barbora Krejcikova* v. Victoria Mboko (22)
Alona Ostapenko (25) v. Wang Xiyu
Venus Williams v. Karolina Muchova (11)
Donna Vekic v. Jessica Bouzas Maneiro

*Krejcikova's unseeded status tells the story of her ongoing injury and illness woes in 2025.