Wimbledon 2025: Emma Raducanu vs Aryna Sabalenka – stats preview

Ahead of their clash, we break down both players recent form and statistics from The Championships to give you a taste of what you can expect from this blockbuster match.

Raducanu and Sabalenka will be the third match on Centre Court on Friday 4 July. 

Recent form

Raducanu came into Wimbledon having picked up a few strong results on the grass – most notably in a quarter-final run at the HSBC Championships.

The 23-year-old has managed to climb to world No.40 in the rankings this year and has taken back the British No.1 spot thanks to some solid performances on tour – including reaching a career-first WTA 1000 quarter-final at the Miami Open.

Sabalenka on the other hand has been the dominant force in women’s tennis over the last 12 months – reaching finals at the last three majors.

This year she has won titles in Miami, Madrid and Brisbane. However, this is her first time competing at The Championships since her semi-final run in 2023.

Here’s are their results so far:

Now let’s take a look at what areas of their games have stood out in the first two rounds:

Raducanu’s return stands out

Raducanu has arguably been one of the best returners at Wimbledon so far this year – an area of her game that just continues to get better and better.

Through the opening two rounds, the 2021 US Open champion has won 50% of the return games she’s played (9/18), which places her far above the tournament average of 34%.

She’s created 23 break points across her two matches, showing that she’s managing to not only read the serve but also place her opponents under pressure.

Sabalenka’s serve a weapon

However, she hasn’t faced a player with serve quite as deadly as Sabalenka yet.

The top seed will come into their match having won 83% (58/70) of points on her first serve, which is 18% higher than the average of the rest of the field.

She hits the serve with a lot of pace – recording the 10^th fastest serve of the tournament so far at 118mph – which has caused her opponents a lot of issues on this surface. Sabalenka has only faced two break points all tournament so far.

British star bringing the aggression

Raducanu has played some aggressive tennis through the opening two rounds, not allowing her opponents to build up any kind of rhythm in the rallies.

18% of her shots so far have been winners – hitting 44 across her two dominant wins so far.

However, she will be up against arguably the most aggressive hitter in the game when she faces Sabalenka and will likely need to show her defensive qualities if she is to come through.

In her press on Wednesday, Raducanu spoke about her improvements in defence but the need to find the bigger weapons against the top players.

“I think that's something that I've developed in the last few months – my ability to kind of use the slice and stay in points for longer,” she said.

“But I think what's going to be the real difference for me to kind of get up to the top is going to be more the aggressive side. I think more taking risks and my shots on, but calculated risks. Against the top girls, you really need to have a weapon on serve and also from the back.”

World No.1 dangerous at the net

Another area for Raducanu to watch out for is Sabalenka’s effectiveness at the net – especially on grass.

So far this tournament she has hit 20 winners at the net – the second highest of any player, just behind Katie Volynets on 22.

The reigning US Open champion has won 81% (39/48) points coming to the net so the British No.1 will want to try and keep Sabalenka pinned back deep on the baseline and force her into making mistakes. In her loss to Vondrousova in Berlin, Sabalenka made a whopping 30 unforced errors.