The 2025 Australian Open kicks off at Melbourne Park this Sunday, and Belarusian world queen Sabalenka wants to put aside the heavy pressure of the women's singles trifecta and focus on the tournament in front of her.

Belarus world ball queen Sabalenka

"I just remember not thinking about becoming the defending champion at all last year, just going step by step. I think that's basically the key, so it's going to be doing that this year as well. Sabalenka said in a pre-match press conference that although she has won the 2023 and 2024 Australian Open in a row, her mentality is still like fighting for the first title, trying to get rid of the mental burden of the defending champion, and make things easier. ”

Sabalenka has the opportunity to join the ranks of legends with three consecutive Australian Open women's top scorers, including Courter in 1969-71, Graf in 1988-90 and Hingis in 1997-99, but she stresses: "I don't want to think too much about it, just try to do my job." Sabalenka made her debut against former US Open champion Stephens at 4 p.m. on Sunday, whose world ranking has dropped to 84.