"All of us that criticized Aryna Sabalenka need to eat poop right now" - Andy Roddick

Andy Roddick heaped praise on Aryna Sabalenka on her performance at the 2024 Australian Open.

The Belarusian successfully defended her title at the Melbourne Major by beating Zheng Qinwen in the final. She did not drop a single set en route to her second Grand Slam singles title.

Roddick lavished praise on Sabalenka when he spoke about her in the opening episode of his podcast "Served with Andy Roddick." The American said that he wanted to give the Belarusian "so much props" on her performance in Melbourne.

"We have to talk about Aryna Sabalenka and the women 's draw and what she did, and I want to give her so much props. We kind of become victims of the moment, we say, 'Well, Sabalenka we all knew when she was 19 since she was, you know, bigger and stronger than everyone'. Like, shut up," the American said.

Roddick said that people doubted Sabalenka and pointed out how she went through an offseason working on her serve.

"You know, all of us had doubts. All of us had doubts. And if you try to forget the the the part where she had full blown serving yips and would have it caused this kind of snowball effect of panic, mental insecurity. I think when you're on the court. And to go through an offseason and clinically deconstruct a serve, come back, have a counting mechanism and then we haven't even seen parts of it. Right," the former World No. 1 said.

"Like we still see Zverev, who's battled with it and he'll throw in a double fault where he's all. He's been fine for 2 hours, and then there's 2 doubles, but they missed by 5 feet. We haven't had that. That thing from Sabalenka, you know, in a long time," he added.

Roddick also said that Sabalenka's critics needed to "eat poop" after the way she got over her mental hurdles to get where is at the moment.

"And so to get over those mental hurdles to become what she's become, all of us that criticized her need to eat poop right now because she has. Absolutely come through it and been amazing. It is a testament to mental fortitude and work. It didn't happen by accident. She absolutely worked at it and deserves these successes," Andy Roddick said.

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Aryna Sabalenka has an 11-1 record so far in 2024

Aryna Sabalenka with the Australian Open trophy

Aryna Sabalenka has enjoyed a terrific start to her 2024 season, with 11 wins out of 12 matches so far.

Before her victorious run at the Australian Open, the Belarusian competed at the Brisbane International as the top seed and reached the final following straight-set wins over Lucia Bronzetti, Zhu Lin, Daria Kasatkina and compatriot Victoria Azarenka. Here, she was thrashed 6-0, 6-3 by second seed Elena Rybakina.

Sabalenka remains the World No. 2 following her Australian Open triumph and is currently 865 points behind World No. 1 Iga Swiatek. The 25-year-old is next scheduled to compete at the Qatar Open, which will take place later this month.