Tennis courts may be home to fierce battles and rivalries, but they’re also the birthplace of some truly unexpected friendships. While fans are used to witnessing fiery exchanges and intense showdowns, there’s another side to the sport—one that thrives on camaraderie. And right now, it seems that two of the WTA’s biggest rivals, Aryna Sabalenka and Iga Swiatek, are flipping the script on what it means to be competitors. Believe it or not, the two powerhouses, known for their epic clashes on the court, are slowly but surely building a friendship that’s making waves in the tennis world.
Sabalenka and Swiatek were seen having quite a remarkable time in Abu Dhabi last week. In an Instagram video shared by the Belarusian star, she was spotted engaging in a practice session with Swiatek and wrote, “Keeping each other on our toes.” This quickly gained attention and now Sabalenka herself has opened up about her camaraderie with the Pole, as she engaged in an interaction with the reporters ahead of her campaign at the Brisbane International.
When quizzed if it was strange for her to train alongside one of her fierce rivals, Sabalenka made an honest admission. “Yeah, it was fun. It all started on the Finals. I asked her to do TikTok. I was, Okay, whatever, I’m going to ask and see what happens. I thought we have to stay together and have fun and just enjoy our rivalry, not be too tough on each other. So I asked. We did it. Since that we already practice for couple of times. Then I was doing fitness after our hit. She was like, I can join you guys. I am like, Yeah, let’s do that. We filmed it and post it,” she said. Continuing further, she also stated how the bond between the two is becoming quite relaxed and joyful.
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“It’s been becoming more chill between us, too. I have to say she’s really nice person. It was fun get to know each other,” Sabalenka added further in the interview. Remember, it was not an isolated incident of the unfolding friendship between Swiatek and Sabalenka as they were also seen enjoying a fun time together during the WTA Finals in Riyadh.
In a delightful twist, the duo were spotted laughing and filming what looked like a TikTok video. When the moment was captured and shared on Instagram by the WTA, the Pole was quick to reshare it and wrote, “I’m sorry” with a laughing emoji, possibly apologizing for her awkward dance moves—or maybe for accidentally damaging her phone with her shoe, as seen in the video! And this comes despite the tough competition they have given to each other on the courts.
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For the unversed, Swiatek and Sabalenka have met each other on 12 occasions with the Polish sensation proving her mettle on 8 occasions. Sabalenka, on the other hand, gradually became a tough opponent and ousted Swiatek as the World No. 1 to clinch the spot in October this year. Meanwhile, these fun moments are not reducing the intensity of Sabalenka’s grit for the next season as continuously desires to improve her skills to give yet tougher times to her opponents.
Aryna Sabalenka aspiring to improve herself ahead of the next seasonAryna Sabalenka clinched two Grand Slams this year – one at the Australian Open and the other at the US Open. Besides, she also clinched the titles at the Cincinnati Masters and the Wuhan Open. But despite her remarkable dominance on the courts, she is not completely satisfied with her level and wishes to improve further in the next season.
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Discussing the same in an interaction with BBC Sport, the Belarusian star said, “There are so many things to improve.” Elaborating further, she added, “I’m not that good with maybe my game at the net in singles. There is a lot of things to improve in my touch game. Even my serve is not as good as I want it to be, so there is always (elements) to improve.” And as she looks to defend her title at the Australian Open, the 26-year-old wishes to experiment with her skills in Brisbane.
“The first tournament before the major tournament is the one where you can try it out and see what’s going to work well for you, and what’s not,” she added further. As the season unfolds, it would be interesting to see if she manages to strengthen her position as the World No. 1 and give a tough challenge to her opponents.
Source : EssentiallySports