Aryna Sabalenka can use the WTA Finals as a “springboard” to recapture her former success after a difficult 2026 season.

That is according to Andre Agassi’s former coach, Brad Gilbert, who would like to see the world No 2 show a bit more grit in her matches when the chips are down.

This year, Sabalenka has blown a number of big leads, particularly in her three-set loss to Diana Shnaider at the French Open and, to a lesser extent, in the deciding set of the Australian Open final to Elena Rybakina.

In the former, the Belarusian lost 10 games in a row when up a set and multiple breaks, and in the latter, she blew a 3-0 lead in the third set, before Rybakina went on to claim the title.

The 28-year-old hasn’t won a trophy since triumphing at the Miami Open in late March, and as the season winds down, the former world No 1 is not in good form as the WTA Finals approaches.

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Gilbert said on The Big T podcast, “What’s surprising since Miami is that after she pulled off the Sunshine Double and lost that big lead in the third set against Rybakina in the finals of the Australian Open, her season has kind of gone sideways.

“You build up great equity by beating players. Then once you start losing, players all of a sudden think, ‘You know what? She’s beatable’. She’s got to get back to figuring [it] out when these matches are close.

“Remember that match she lost against [Hailey] Baptiste? She had six or seven match points. At the French [Open], she was up a set and 5-1 against Shnaider [and lost]. So she’s let some big leads slip away. She needs to get back to competing and finding a way not to let matches slip away.

One player who is, however, in good form is Rybakina. The US Open champion is fresh off her title win in Ningbo, and much of her success this season may have been down to her strong end to the 2025 campaign.

The 27-year-old snuck into the WTA Finals last year, then won the tournament, and backed that up with her first Australian Open crown. Ergo, the year-ending event at Indian Wells should be taken very seriously by four-time major winner Sabalenka.

“I do feel like this tournament can have a springboard for the following year,” added Gilbert, who was Coco Gauff’s coach for her US Open final win over Sabalenka in 2023. “You saw Rybakina to be the last qualifier to get in [for the WTA Finals], wins the title, and she starts with a win in Australia.

“So I do think it would be really important for Sabalenka to find this grit, this level of competing that she’s had. I think on some of her surprising losses, the way she has lost it in the second or third set after she’s had these leads. She’s got to get back to that gear.”

The WTA Finals begin on 7 November.

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