Four-time Grand Slam champion Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus revealed the composition of her team, which includes her fiancé, Brazilian entrepreneur Georgios Frangulis, and her puppy Ash, in a short interview with the Miami Open.
«I have a huge team. I have two coaches, a fitness coach, a hitting partner, a manager, agents. I have a statistics guy. I have a physio, of course. …no mental coach, my whole team is my mental coach and I’m a coach for them. So that’s how we get stronger,» the World No. 1 said.
«Who else? Ash? That’s my mental health support. So, let’s call him my mental coach. My fiancé is part of the team as well. Stringer also… A chef at some tournaments. I have a huge team, but I feel like to be that consistent and to be that successful, you need a lot of people around you to help manage many things and to feel comfortable,» Sabalenka said.
At the 2026 Miami Open, Sabalenka will start from the round of 64, where she will face either American Ann Li (World No. 39) or Australian Kimberly Birrell (No. 70). At the 2025 Miami Open, the Belarusian defeated American Jessica Pegula (No. 5) 7-5, 6-2.
World No. 2 Kazakhstani Elena Rybakina, who last weekend lost in the 2026 BNP Paribas Open final to Sabalenka, said she hopes to win in Miami. The athlete has reached the final there in two consecutive years. In 2023, she lost to Czech Petra Kvitová 6-7 (14-16), 2-6, and in 2024 to American Danielle Collins 5-7, 3-6.
«It definitely gives me motivation. I want to win this tournament at some point, and hopefully it will happen this year. We’ll see, but I will take it one match at a time, since I haven’t even had a chance to practice here. So I don’t know how the feeling will be, but I still have a couple more days,» the tournament’s press service quoted Rybakina as saying.
In the latest WTA rankings, Rybakina rose to second place for the first time in her career. After reaching the final of the WTA 1000 tournament in Indian Wells, the Kazakhstani player defeated Poland’s Iga Świątek along the way.
At the Miami Open, the women’s draw was seeded according to previous rankings. As a result, Świątek was given the second seed, while Rybakina received the third. This setup allows for a potential semifinal meeting between Rybakina and Sabalenka. Rybakina also has a first-round bye, and there is a strong possibility of an all-Kazakhstani matchup in the round of 64 if Yulia Putintseva (No. 75) defeats Indonesia’s Janice Tjen (No. 39).
