Aryna Sabalenka provided an injury update ahead of her second-round match against Emma Raducanu at the 2024 Indian Wells on Monday.
Sabalenka, who is the current Australian Open champion, rolled her ankle during her first-round clash at Indian Wells against Peyton Stearns, which she won 6-7 (2-7), 6-2, 7-6 (8-6), and admitted that she was worried that she may just have picked a serious injury.
“It was bad in [the] first seconds, but then slowly it was getting better and I felt like, okay, I’m ready to play. But in that moment when they twisted a little bit, I thought, oh, God, what did I do wrong? It’s happening to me,” she explained.
“But I was trying, this is just the proof that I was trying so hard to get to every ball and to put every ball back. Yeah, but now I feel okay. We’ll see tomorrow. But I have a great team, and I’m pretty sure they will take care of it so for the next match I will be ready.”
Sabalenka will take on Raducanu, which will be their first-ever match. While the Belarusian has won back-to-back Australian Open titles, the Brit had been struggling with injuries and only played a handful of matches in the past two years.
“I would say I have a lot of experience [when it comes to] twisting my ankle and I know the way how to get out of that and not get injured,” the Belarusian added.
“And that’s why I like my shoes because I have a good control on my feet there. I think right before that, like, really crazy twist I was able to kind of let it go, and kind of, like, save myself.
“So I feel like it should be okay.”