Aryna Sabalenka has made a strong start to her Wimbledon campaign with a straight sets victory over Carson Branstine.
Sabalenka is looking to move past Roland Garros controversy, after she was criticised for comments she made about Coco Gauff.
The world number one is also looking to win her first major title this year, after losing back-to-back Grand Slam finals.
She got off to the best possible start after beating her qualifier opponent in just over an hour.
Photo by Rob Newell – CameraSport via Getty ImagesAryna Sabalenka explains how training with Novak Djokovic and Carlos Alcaraz has helped her
Sabalenka beat Branstine, 6-1 7-5, on Wimbledon’s No.1 Court in her first appearance at the tournament since 2023.
In her preparation for the grass court major, Sabalenka has trained with Jannik Sinner, Novak Djokovic and Carlos Alcaraz.
While Sabalenka is not keen on playing best-of-five set tennis just yet, she admitted in her post-match press conference that practicing with men’s players has helped her game.
“It’s amazing,” said Sabalenka. “You play with them and you see the difference, you see the different approach to the balls and you are learning. I think automatically you start reflecting on what is happening on that side and it really helps my tennis, to be honest.
“Because now there is some balls that I used to struggle a little but right now I understand a little better how to adjust to those balls and I feel like today in the match and on the practice, after hitting with the guys I felt like I improved a couple of things in my game. I am super happy I got to hit with them as I got to learn a lot.”
Aryna Sabalenka talks about the benefits of practicing with top ATP players like Jannik Sinner and Novak Djokovic 👀
The World No. 1 won her first round match against Carson Branstine in straight sets today.#Wimbledon pic.twitter.com/ONGFWO7IoE
— TENNIS (@Tennis) June 30, 2025
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Aryna Sabalenka reveals how her US Open mixed doubles team with Grigor Dimitrov came about
Practicing with Sinner, Djokovic and Alcaraz is not the only time that Sabalenka will be sharing the matchcourt with ATP players this year.
As part of the stacked US Open mixed doubles lineup, Sabalenka is one of the many top singles players to have signed up.
Sabalenka will be alongside Grigor Dimitrov, and she has now explained how that partnership came to fruition.
“I didn’t know what was happening with the US Open mixed doubles,” said Sabalenka. “He just messaged me saying something about mixed doubles. I was like are you crazy, I’m not going to play mixed doubles!
“And then he explained it was a week before and it’s a two day event basically so I thought that sounds fun. I talked to my team because I love playing doubles, and mixed doubles is so much fun. I have played some exhibitions with Grigor and I think the level was pretty good so I was like, yeah, let’s do that.”
Before Sabalenka can think about playing mixed doubles with Dimitrov, she will need to focus on her next singles match at Wimbledon.
That match will be against Czech player Marie Bouzkova, taking place on Wednesday, July 2.