Aryna Sabalenka plays down injury, plays up Nike sneakers after Indian Wells comeback

Serena Williams once declared, “Nike makes the best shoes,” and over a decade later, the brand is still getting rave reviews from tennis players like Aryna Sabalenka at the BNP Paribas Open.

The world No. 2 suffered and injury scare in the middle of a titanic opening round clash with Peyton Stearns, but pulled up well enough to outlast the American in a final-set tiebreaker and make her sponsor very happy in post-match press.

“That’s why I like my shoes,” she said after surviving, 6-7 (2), 6-2, 7-6 (6), “because I have a good control on my feet there. I think right before that, like, really crazy twist I was able to kind of let it go, and kind of, like, save myself.”

Sabalenka, who debuted a new Barbie-core Nike dress in Tennis Paradise, ultimately played down any injury concerns, both from the ankle twist and a brief dip into the splits, ahead of a third-round match with 2021 US Open champion Emma Raducanu.

“In that moment when they twisted a little bit, I thought, ‘Oh, God, what I did wrong? It's happening to me.’

“But I was trying, this is just the proof that I was trying so hard to get to every ball and to put every ball back. Yeah, but now I feel okay. We'll see tomorrow. But I have a great team, and I'm pretty sure they will take care of it so for the next match I will be ready.”

Sabalenka has played just two matches since winning her second major title at the 2024 Australian Open, curtailing her Middle East Swing to the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships, where she lost to Donna Vekic in the opening round.

Against Stearns, she saved four match points—three in a row from 40-0 down in the tenth game of the final set—to book a first meeting with Raducanu, who advanced after Dayana Yastremska proved less lucky and was forced to retire in the opening set of their match on Saturday.