"Many young players creating upsets, great to see Aryna Sabalenka & Iga Swiatek go through" - Ana Ivanovic on Elena Rybakina's Australian Open exit

Ana Ivanovic recently shared her thoughts on young players causing major upsets and lauded Iga Swiatek and Aryna Sabalenka for their run in the first week of the 2024 Australian Open.

Ivanovic also commented on the second-round exit of Elena Rybakina, who was the runner-up last year, against Anna Blinkova in the longest singles tie-break in Grand Slam history.

Ivanovic is no stranger to the Australian Open, having reached the final in 2008, where she lost to Maria Sharapova in straight sets. She also made the quarterfinals in 2014 and the last 16 in 2012 and 2013.

The Serb praised Sabalenka, the defending champion and the second seed, who has been dominant in her first three matches. She defeated Ella Seidel, Brenda Fruhvirtova, and Lesia Tsurenko in her previous rounds in straight sets.

Another player who caught Ivanovic’s eye is Swiatek, current World No. 1, who survived a scare against Danielle Collins in the second round. The Pole had to fight back from a set down to win 6-4, 3-6, 6-4.

However, not all the favorites had a smooth ride in Melbourne, as the third-seeded Rybakina lost to Anna Blinkova in the second round in a record-breaking tie-break, 6-4, 4-6, 7-6 (20). The 42-point tiebreak was the longest ever in a Grand Slam singles match.

Ivanovic took to X (formerly Twitter) account on Thursday, January 18, to share her predictions. She wrote:

Tough match for Elena Rybakina today. Anna Blinkova played very aggressive and really kept her composure especially after missing out on initial match points. As we saw many young players creating lots of upsets already. It’s great to see Aryna Sabalenka going strong and Iga Swiatek making a comeback in the 3rd set to go through to the 3rd round.

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"Iga Swiatek's got the potential to be like Rafael Nadal" – Martina Navratilova

(Left to right) Ons Jabeur, Iga Swiatek and Martina Navratilova at the 2022 US Open

Martina Navratilova believes that Iga Swiatek has the potential to achieve success similar to Rafael Nadal.

Navratilova emphasized the importance of enhancing Swiatek's net game for success at the Melbourne Major while drawing parallels to Nadal's potential.

"How good will she [Iga Swiatek] be if she starts going forward? Ridiculous. I think she’s got the potential to be kind of like Nadal. She’s got those soft hands -- she just doesn’t seem confident to use them," Navratilova told WTA.

The former World No. 1 suggested that the Spaniard also hesitated to play at the net.

"When Nadal came up, he was allergic to the net, didn’t have a slice. And then he developed all of that. I think she has such a curious mind and she’ll want to improve that," she said.

Martina Navratilova also added that Iga Swiatek must invest significant effort to transform her weaknesses into strengths.

"Hard to believe, but she’s got a lot of places she can get better. Her so-called weaknesses can become strengths. Not backing away from the net, she can be even more dominant," she added.