Dinara Safina reveals how Aryna Sabalenka prepared for Coco Gauff Madrid Open final with crazy strategy

Former World No. 1 Dinara Safina has talked about Aryna Sabalenka's training methods before her Madrid Open triumph this week. Sabalenka took the title after a dominant display in the final over American Coco Gauff, who simply couldn't cope with the Belarusian's firepower and succumbed in straight sets, 6-3, 7-6(3).

Dinara Safina attained the No. 1 spot in April 2009 despite never winning a Major. She held the position for 26 weeks, during a purple patch in her career, where she reached the finals of the Australian Open and the French Open and the Wimbledon semi-final within a seven-month period.

Safina had once flirted with the possibility of becoming Sabalenka's coach. In August 2019, after Sabalenka had parted ways with her coach Dmitry Tursunov, she offered Safina a role on her team, but the Russian declined. After Sabalenka's win over Gauff, Safina talked to the News Aryna Sabalenka X (formerly Twitter) account and revealed her training methods.

Safina said that Aryna Sabalenka's training revolves directly around her forthcoming opponent, and her hitting partner, Andrei Vasilevski, mimics the opponent's style:

"When the tournament starts, she only plays with sparring, the day before the match they practice tactics for the opponent..The whole training is based on a match with Coco, Andrey plays along like Coco"

Safina knows Sabalenka's game inside-out. She was on hand in Madrid while the Belarusian prepared for the Gauff match and said that the tactics were pre-defined:

"I watched the training. The entire combination, the training session is built around the match. Attack to the right, attack to the right, and then a free corner. Here we have a sparring session, and what Coco is doing kind of plays into her hands a little bit. This is how they line it up straight."

In the match itself, Sabalenka was particularly dominant. At one point in the first set, she won 17 straight points. Gauff fought back to force a second-set tie-break but was eventually overpowered.

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Aryna Sabalenka confirmed her position as World No. 1 in Madrid

Mutua Madrid Open - Day Twelve - Source: Getty

Aryna Sabalenka won her third Madrid Open on Saturday to tie Petra Kvitova, who won in 2011, 2015 and 2018, for the most Madrid Open triumphs.

With World No. 2 Swiatek having a difficult season, Sabalenka has strengthened her hold on the title of the world's best player. She now leads Swiatek by more than 4000 points. After beating Gauff, Sabalenka told Sky Sports Tennis that she was delighted by her victory:

"I'm super happy. It wasn't an easy match today and I'm so happy to get this trophy. Before the match, I saw they had a new trophy and I was like, 'I need this one, I want to win this trophy', and I'm super happy."

Aryna Sabalenka now moves on to the Internazionali BNL d'Italia in Rome. She has only reached the semi-final there once, in 2022, so she will hope her success in Spain translates to Italy.