Tennis News: Aryna Sabalenka's confession and Coco Gauff chases No. 1

As all true tennis fans know, there should be no real difference between men's and women's tennis as both are entertaining to watch. Plus, the vast majority of us would never win a point against the top 250 players. The player could double-fault maybe, and that would be a point. But not one that was earned by the opponent.

During a recent press conference, Aryna Sabalenka discussed watching tennis and she admitted to something quite startling. The WTA No. 2 (for now) admitted she does not watch a lot of tennis - likely, she doesn't have the time as she is busy practicing and playing - but when she does watch tennis, she watches men's tennis. She finds men's tennis more "interesting."

Sabalenka has a right to her opinion, of course. She plays the sport at a high level and is informed about how the sport needs to be played in order to win. But that doesn't mean the rest of us have to agree with her. She has a different perspective than most of us because she would be watching her opponents play and that could be seen as a bit of admiration. As a competitor, she would have to discount that mentally in order to have the confidence to beat her opponent.

Aryna Sabalenka says a shocking thing and Coco Gauff tries to run down Iga Swiatek

She did laugh while answering the question in a pre-Madrid Masters press conference, so maybe that should be noted. Sabalenka said, "I’m not one to watch a lot of tennis, I prefer to watch men’s tennis than women’s, I feel there’s more logic and it’s more interesting to watch."

Most importantly, she likely just added fuel to her future opponents' motivation when playing her.

Speaking of Sabalenka's No. 2 ranking, she might soon lose that. The reason is that she has 1,000 points to defend at the Madrid Masters due to her victory at the event last year. Coco Gauff, the current WTA No. 3, only made the third round in Madrid in 2023 so she has many fewer points to defend. In the WTA lives rankings, Gauff is already clear of Sabalenka, but that was before Madrid began.

Gauff might have a more difficult time catching up to No. 1 Iga Swiatek, but there is a chance of that as well. Swiatek won the French Open so has 2,000 points to defend at Roland Garros. Gauff reached only the quarterfinals in 2023 so fewer points to defend. If nothing else, the Gauff should be expected to surpass Sabalenka soon with a real chance of becoming No. 1 over the summer.

More tennis news and analysis