Serena Williams’ Ex-Coach Decodes Reason Behind Aryna Sabalenka Trumping Jannik Sinner in Forehand Speed

Aryna Sabalenka has been the talk of the tennis community. Apart from being the frontrunner to win the US Open 2024, the Belarusian has made it to the headlines for accomplishing an impressive feat. However, Serena Williams’ former coach, Patrick Mouratoglou isn’t as surprised as the world is hyping it up to be.

Sabalenka is known for her powerful striking of the ball. However, her topspin forehand stunned the sporting community by averaging 80 mph. What makes this even more impressive is that the top three players on the ATP Tour – Jannik Sinner, Novak Djokovic, and Carlos Alcaraz – averaged less than Sabalenka during the New York-based Grand Slam.

‘I saw my stats on my forehand and I actually can’t believe it’s that fast. It felt even kind of uncomfortable being at the top and hitting harder than guys’

Aryna Sabalenka on having the fastest average forehand at the US Open! pic.twitter.com/xHf1yMmRsT

— 365Scores (@365Scores) September 4, 2024

While the former World No.1 left herself in awe with this stat, Mouratoglou deep-dived into the same to explain the reason behind Sabalenka’s forehand being as fast as it is, in an Instagram reel.

According to Mouratoglou, the simple reason is that male tennis players relied much more on spin. Whereas, the WTA were brutal with their sheer pace.

“I saw the statistics saying that, the speed of the forehand of Aryna Sabalenka is faster than the top guys. I might surprise you, but to me, this statistics from Aryna Sabalenka is not a surprise.

“But that’s one of the difference between men’s tennis and women’s tennis. Men apply much more spin to the ball, they play much higher.

“When you’re a women and you play tennis, it makes sense for you to play fast, to hit the ball hard with less spin,” the Frenchman explained in the social media post.

 

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Mouratoglou added that men are usually faster across the court, which is why they don’t really put a lot of pace on their ground strokes in the fear that the ball could come back quicker. As a result, men’s tennis is more spin-based while women’s tennis is more about flat groundstrokes.

And Sabalenka is the perfect exponent of it. Her forehand is extremely quick and she has been able to dominate her opponents through her way to the finals of the US Open.