Talking about her tennis goals, Aryna Sabalenka once said, “After I lost my father, it’s always been my goal to put our family name in the history of tennis. And every time I see my name on that trophy, I’m so proud of myself, I’m proud of my family that they never gave up on my dream.” Sabalenka made her professional debut in 2015, and throughout this ten-year span, she has now won 20 titles in her career, including three Grand Slam triumphs. Although she came closer to clinching her fourth in Melbourne earlier this year, Sabalenka was defeated by Madison Keys in the final. However, now she has a chance to take a second bite at the cherry with her incredible run at the 2025 French Open. Seeing her incredible performances over the last few years, the American tennis legend has now drawn an interesting parallel between Sabalenka and the 18-time Grand Slam champion Martina Navratilova.

Shortly after ending Iga Swiatek’s 26-match winning streak at the French Open, Aryna Sabalenka became the player with the most women’s singles Grand Slam finals this decade. She’s now also the third player in the 2000s to reach multiple women’s singles Grand Slam finals for 3+ consecutive years after Venus Williams (2000-2003) and Serena Williams (2008-2010). Seeing her impressive performances and these staggering stats, Pam Shriver recently came up with a very interesting tweet.

She wrote, “Sabalenka’s trajectory in her first 10 years as a pro reminds me of Martina Navratilova’s trajectory. This year we will find out if Sabalenka will dominate for a few years like Martina did in the early to mid 80s.” Navratilova’s dominance in the 1980s is undeniable. During that phase, she won a record-breaking nine Wimbledon singles titles and a record six consecutive Grand Slam wins. ‘Ruthless’ is perhaps the right word to describe her dominating run during that time period. Aryna Sabalenka has also tasted quite a few major successes recently.

But this isn’t the first time that Shriver spoke highly of the Belarusian. Even in December 2023, she stated, “She seems to be built for the endurance part of this … she’s strong and she trains well.” Not only that, she also predicted, “I think she (Sabalenka) has a pretty good chance at three of the four majors (in 2024) — the only one I wouldn’t say is Iga’s best one, Roland Garros. But I think she can win Wimbledon and the two hard courts. I’d say it’s a very good chance she wins at least one.” Guess what? Her predictions almost turned out true, last year!

In 2024, Aryna Sabalenka won the AO and the US Open, but she was defeated by Mirra Andreeva in the QF of the French Open. But this year, she has been a completely different player on clay. She reached the final in Stuttgart before clinching the title in Madrid. Even in Paris, she has looked solid. After her win against the four-time champion, Iga Swiatek, in the SF, she said, “It feels incredible, but I also understand that the job is not done yet.” So far, if we take a look at the scoreline, despite having a strong start in this match, Aryna Sabalenka failed to capitalize on the lead. Owing to Coco Gauff’s incredible fightback, the score is at 6-5 in favor of the Belarusian in the first set. Who between these two has a chance of winning the title this year?

Pam Shriver shares her verdict for Aryna Sabalenka’s French Open final match against Coco Gauff

With Aryna Sabalenka playing against Coco Gauff in the women’s singles final on Saturday, it will be the first time that the top two-ranked players will face off in both singles finals at the French Open since 1984. Currently, their H2H record is leveled at 5-5. Before entering this match, Sabalenka was asked what it meant to her to win the title here. In reply, she said, “It’s going to mean everything to me and my team. Almost [my] whole life I’ve been told [clay] is not my thing and then I didn’t have any confidence. If I’ll be able to get this trophy, it’s going to mean the world for us.“

On the other hand, Coco Gauff knows what she’d come up against in her next match. The American was heard saying, “She’s (Sabalenka) going to come out aggressive, she’s going to come out swinging. I think I just have to expect that and do my best to kind of counter that. Anything can happen on Saturday. I’m looking forward to it, and I’m glad to be going up against a world number one, too.“

Coco Gauff is currently bidding for her first title of the season, but she’s already the youngest woman to reach the finals at Madrid, Rome, and Paris in the same season. What does Pam Shriver have to say about their chances in this match? Talking about her compatriot, she said, “Gauff needs to have good day accelerating on her forehand, get a high percentage of first serves in, and use her extraordinarily speed to play top-shelf defense. It’s a head-to-head that’s dead even. And it’s always special to have No. 1 versus No. 2 in a major final.”

What can Sabalenka do to defeat the world number 2? “Sabalenka just needs to keep playing confident tennis, using her Serena-type power game plus her added finesse plays that have flourished since Gauff beat Sabalenka at the 2023 US Open final. The crowd will not have the kind of impact in this major final that it had when it helped Gauff to win her first major 20 months ago. Sabalenka is enjoying the No. 1 ranking as much as anyone in recent times, as her mental strength is now just as strong as her physical strength.”

Who, according to her, is going to be the possible winner in this blockbuster contest? “Sabalenka wins in three sets.” It has been pretty tight in the first set, but who, according to you, will ultimately have the last laugh in the ‘City of Lights’?