ROME, Italy—No rest for the world No. 1.
Aryna Sabalenka didn’t have to play a match on her Cinco de Mayo birthday, but the Internazionali BNL d’Italia’s top seed was plenty busy as she prepared to campaign for a rare Madrid-Rome double.
“Yeah, it wasn’t a day off,” laughed Sabalenka, who defeated Coco Gauff to win the Mutua Madrid Open on Saturday. “I had tennis and fitness in the morning. But my team made sure that it’s, like, half of the day I’m practicing and half of the day I’m celebrating win in Madrid plus my birthday. So, I had fun. Yeah, it was a beautiful day.
“Much better than if I would have to play a match, come back home very late, there’s no time to celebrate. So that was good.”
