Sabalenka was unheralded as a junior and relatively unknown until 2017 when she rose to prominence by leading the Belarus Fed Cup team to a runner-up finish with Aliaksandra Sasnovich, despite both of them being ranked outside the top 75 at the time. Following the 2017 Fed Cup, she began having more success on the WTA Tour, reaching four finals in 2018 to go along with eight top ten victories. Sabalenka continued to excel in singles in 2019 with three titles in China, highlighted by a defense of her Wuhan Open title at the Premier 5 level and by winning the WTA Elite Trophy at the end of the year.