It's all a love match but where is the needle at Wimbledon?

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16 hours ago

Belarus' Aryna Sabalenka during practice at the All England Club at Wimbledon (Reuters via Beat Media Group subscription)
By James Toney at Wimbledon
These days, searching for a little needle at Wimbledon is increasingly harder than finding one in the proverbial haystack.
In the early rounds of the fortnight, sometimes the spiciest exchanges happen in the media centre. Indeed, 34 years ago, things got so heated between British and American journalists that the place descended into an all-out brawl.
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All it takes is a brief spat, a few ill-judged words in the heat of battle, or a quick-witted response to a loaded question that gets totally lost in translation.
Great Britain's Harriet Dart showed the way in April when she told a rival to wear deodorant. More recently, Maria Sakkari informed Yulia Putintseva that no one liked her - a sledge that was hard to argue with.
So, the prospect of Coco Gauff following Aryna Sabalenka into Wimbledon's well-appointed media theatre certainly piqued the interest of the headline-hungry.
Seeded one and two, it's just three weeks since they clashed in the final of the French Open, where Sabalenka made unforced error after unforced error to hand the title to the American.
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It's easy to write, but not the done thing for her to say, Gauff took umbrage at the admittedly ungracious post-match comments in what you're taught to describe at journalism school as a 'war of words'.
They shared a practice session on Friday and then buried the hatchet with a TikTok dance afterwards. If only Belarusian-American relations were so easily repaired at the United Nations—Donald Trump and Alexander Lukashenko lip-syncing to Pink Pony Club might make the world a better and safer place.
'I'm someone who preaches love, I preach light, I don't want to fuel more hate,' said Gauff, who opens her campaign against Ukraine's Dayana Yastremska.
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'Obviously some people were critiquing what she said. I didn't really care about any of that because I know how it feels. I understand what she was trying to say.
'I don't think I was playing well either, so I understood where she was coming from with that. I'm not someone to hold a grudge.
'I was like if she apologises - even privately - I'll be fine and we'll move on. She did, and she did again when I saw her before we practised. It's just water under the bridge. I just want us to be kumbaya, live happily, hakuna matata.'
At a time when leading players are too often robotic—drilled on court and stripped of charisma via media training off it—TikTok-loving Sabalenka is hard not to warm to. Being far from flawless is part of the appeal.
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On her day, her first serve is unstoppable; 24 hours later, they aren't even landing in the SW19 postcode.
What's not in doubt is that Sabalenka is just what tennis needs—brilliantly using social media to bring her off-court personality to life, while not shying away from her emotions on it. In a sometimes personality-devoid sport, she'll tell you what she thinks, unvarnished, and apologise when she gets it wrong.
'I've always been really good with Coco,' said Sabalenka. 'I didn't really want to offend her. I was just completely upset with myself and emotions got the better of me, I just completely lost it.
'I wanted to say it in person, but I wasn't sure if she was going to come to Berlin, so I had to message her to apologise and make sure she understood. I didn't mean to offend.
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'She's got my respect and she knows it. I'm happy that she was like, it's all good, don't worry. We're good, we're friends. I just hope the US media can be easy on me right now.
'I would love to face Coco in the final, I've learnt the lesson. I'm not going to be like that again.'
Until then, Sabalenka's first-round opponent is Canadian Carson Branstine, a player who admits she's made more money travelling the world as a model than playing tennis.
'I don't know much about her, apart from that she's super pretty,' she added.
'The other day I opened social media and she was giving an interview—I think she'd just qualified. I was like, oh my God, this girl is so beautiful.
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'I leave that stuff for my team, and for sure we're going to watch her matches before we play and talk about tactics and everything.
'It's not easy to face someone you've never seen before, but I'm glad that now, with the technology and everything, you can watch as many of her matches as you want. I know I'll be prepared.'
Sabalenka has been practising this week with Jannik Sinner and Novak Djokovic - their advice invaluable as she looks to add even more polish to her power game: six Grand Slam final appearances in two years, with three wins and three defeats.
'Novak is the best. Not every guy would take the time to hit with you and then he gave me some really honest advice,' she added.
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'It's amazing to hear the opinion of such a legend. We were just chatting about stuff that I've been kind of struggling with. I'm thankful for what he told me.
'If you give Novak the opportunity to talk, he's not going to stop! I wish I could have stayed there for four hours just chatting.
'Hitting with the guys—it's another level of intensity. It's just cool to see their level.'