Aryna Sabalenkova and Iga Swiatek are the two highest-ranked women’s players heading into the 2026 Australian Open, but their Sunday night matches couldn’t be further apart.
While Sabalenko’s trophy and 22nd career title ended with victory in Brisbane, Swiatek ended in tears as the world number two suffered yet another defeat ahead of the first Grand Slam of the year.
World number two Iga Swiatek in her match against Belinda Bencic on Sunday night.Credit: Getty Images
The shining light for Swiatek was that Poland won the United Cup final, despite a three-set capitulation to Switzerland’s Belinda Bencic, to finally lift the trophy after the nation was the tournament’s bridesmaids in 2024 and 2025.
But a racquet throw as she entered the team box after her match narrowly summed up Swiatek’s results ahead of the Australian Open and she now heads to Melbourne Park with back-to-back losses after also falling to Coco Gauff on Saturday night.
But when Swiatek and the Poland team arrived in the press conference room just before 1am, anger and frustration were replaced by elation and the world number two quickly dismissed concerns about her health after being in tears on court twice this week.
“Everything is fine, just super sore. I think the first tournament of the year costs everyone a little differently than the season, but I had a similar experience last year,” she said.
“Just a good recovery, a few days off. Also, I know these team events, I love them, but they really take a lot of energy out of you, so I still have to figure out how to maybe balance that in the future.”
“Because I’m so excited on the bench it’s almost like playing a match. It’s all good, I definitely wasn’t the best version of myself physically in the second set and I definitely used that to push me, but I’ll definitely try to cover it before the Australian Open.”
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