"It’s always fun watching her": Jimmy Connors praises Aryna Sabalenka after winning Miami Open title

Former world number one Jimmy Connors has heaped praise on Belarus’ Aryna Sabalenka after her recent triumph. The 27-year-old, who is already regarded as one of the best players currently playing in women’s tennis in the singles category, recently lifted the WTA 1000 Miami Open after beating America’s Jessica Pegula in the final in straight sets with a score of 7-5, 6-2.

That victory was important for Sabalenka, who came into the competition after suffering a heartbreaking defeat in the two finals this season. She first lost in the Australian Open final to America’s Madison Keys with a score of 6-3, 2-6, 7-5.

Most recently, she suffered a defeat in the final of the Indian Wells WTA 1000 event to Russia’s young tennis sensation Mirra Andreeva with a score of 2-6, 6-4, 6-3. Former men’s world number one Connors has been recently quoted in a report by The Tennis Gazette, where he explained what he likes most about the three-time Grand Slam winner. Connors praised Sabalenka and believes that her hard work is finally paying off.

“From hard courts to clay – might not be her favourite – but she is pretty good on clay,” he said. “She is the number one player in the world so she is pretty good on everything. But I think hard courts, US Open and Australia, is more her favourites. It is going to be interesting to see now, she is going into a pretty heavy schedule with three Grand Slams in four months plus the clay court season. It is going to be an interesting watch to see how she prepares for each one differently, the clay to the grass and then to the hard courts. It is going to be interesting to see. But it’s always fun watching her and I like watching her because of the way she has gone about it and worked hard to get to where she is now.”