“Aryna Sabalenka, Iga Swiatek are like Jannik Sinner & Carlos Alcaraz” – Andrea Petkovic says Coco Gauff, Jessica Pegula are not at WTA rivals’ level

Former player Andrea Petkovic called Aryna Sabalenka and Iga Swiatek the Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz of the WTA Tour, but disregarded Coco Gauff and Jessica Pegula on that level. Swiatek won the women’s singles title, and Sinner clinched his first Wimbledon title in the 2025 edition.

Andrea Petkovic, the 2014 Wimbledon semifinalist, drew a line to her tennis career in 2022 but never dissociated herself from the sport. She started penning her insights and everything sports-related on Substack and also joined forces with Boris Becker on a podcast.

Recently, after Wimbledon witnessed two of the favorites, Iga Swiatek and Sinner, claim the singles titles, Petkovic hailed the Pole and Belarusian Aryna Sabalenka as the best players in the WTA Tour. She even compared both of them to their male counterparts, Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz.

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However, the German also noted that the women fail to be consistent, unlike the men who have shared the last seven major titles between themselves. Petkovic bluntly overlooked the 2025 French Open champion, Coco Gauff, and the 2024 US Open finalist, Jessica Pegula, among the top players.

“I’ve said it several times, for me, Aryna Sabalenka and Iga Swiatek are the two best players in the world. They’re like [Jannik] Sinner and [Carlos] Alcaraz. The problem is, they’re not as consistent as Sinner and Alcaraz at the Grand Slams. The others, the [Coco] Gauff’s, the [Jessica] Pegula’s, can knock them out every now and then, which happens less with the men. But when everyone is playing their best tennis, Iga and Aryna are clear of the rest of the field.”

Sabalenka was in the running for the SW19 title but lost to American Amanda Anisimova in the semifinals.

Andrea Petkovic hailed Iga Swiatek for her dominance on the court, much similar to Steffi Graf

Iga Swiatek was unstoppable at the 2025 Wimbledon. She didn't drop a single set in the entire campaign, the second time in the women's Open Era, thus winning the finals 0-6,-6 against Amanda Anisimova. Her flair caught the attention of former player Andrea Petkovic, who hailed her for recording the maximum winning streaks of any active player.

"Iga [Swiatek], when she gets that confidence, she’s unstoppable. I looked again, she’s the only active player who has had these winning streaks. When she became world number one, she won 36 [37] matches in a row. Last year, she had a period where I think she won 25 matches in a row.When she gets that run going, s he’s almost unbeatable; she has that point-by-point mentality.”

Petkovic also compared her with Steffi Graf, not for the technique but the mental strength and intensity she brings to the court.

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About the author

Agnijeeta Majumder

Agnijeeta is a US Olympics journalist at Sportskeeda. She holds a Master’s degree in English and has worked as a school teacher, a blogger, a content writer and a sports writer over the past 5 years. A lover of high-adrenaline track and field events, she was also a sprinter during her school days.

Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone happens to be her favorite Olympian, and the athlete’s feat of breaking four records within 13 months inspires her, apart from the American's body language on and off the track. Grant Hackett swimming with a partially dysfunctional lung and winning gold in Athens is her all-time favorite Olympic moment.

Agnijeeta believes that deriving of unique angles from podcasts and interviews carried out by Olympics.com, along with hype-building of potential Olympic events on social media can help fill the coverage gap during the off season.

When not at her work desk, Agnijeeta likes to sing and paint. She also plays string instruments like guitar and ukulele and is an avid player of word puzzles.

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