Aryna Sabalenka: TikTok dance was key to thawing relationship with Iga Swiatek
World number one Sabalenka and four-time champion Iga Swiatek will meet in a blockbuster French Open semi-final on Thursday.
It will be the first time the duo, who have been jousting at the top of the rankings for the past three years, have played each other at a grand slam since the 2022 US Open.
They barely used to speak until an impromptu bonding session at last year's WTA Finals in Riyadh.
'Before it wasn't any communication, any practices with her, but now we are getting better,' said 27-year-old Sabalenka.
'We get along better and we practice more often and we know each other quite well.
'I think everything started when I just came to her and asked to do a TikTok in Riyadh. We just did, like, a little dance together.
'Since that, we were like 'OK, maybe we can communicate, we can be good to each other, we can practice sometimes'.
'So I think that was the first step to a better relationship.'
The blossoming friendship will be put on hold when Belarusian Sabalenka continues her bid for a first Roland Garros title against the player who has won her last 26 matches at the French Open.
Sabalenka has reached the semi-finals in nine of the last 10 grand slams she has competed at after battling past Olympic champion Qinwen Zheng 7-6 (3) 6-3.
It was a shame that the match between two top WTA stars began at 11am, meaning there were hundreds of empty seats around the vast Court Philippe-Chatrier.
Semis: this way 👉👉#RolandGarros pic.twitter.com/8Ob9YVkXzM
— Roland-Garros (@rolandgarros) June 3, 2025
The scheduling of women's matches has been a hot topic again this fortnight, and Sabalenka said: 'I agree it was a big match and probably would make more sense to put us a little bit later just so more people could watch it.'
Swiatek's patchy form since winning the title last year has seen her slip to number five in the rankings, but the 24-year-old from Poland remains the player to beat in Paris after a 6-1 7-5 quarter-final victory over Ukrainian 13th seed Elina Svitolina.
The second semi-final will be decided on Wednesday with Coco Gauff taking on fellow American Madison Keys and Russian sixth seed Mirra Andreeva facing the French Open surprise package, world number 361 Lois Boisson.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
BBC News
23 minutes ago
- BBC News
LTA promises equal prize money at Queen's by 2029
The LTA has pledged to introduce equal prize money at Queen's and Eastbourne by no later than total prize fund for the WTA event at Queen's Club - which begins on Monday - will be $1.415m (£1.043m), with the LTA voluntarily increasing the standard prize money by a that still comes nowhere near the amount the men will be paid for competing at the same venue the following prize money levels are set by the tours, and the ATP tournament will offer a total prize fund of 2.522m euros (£2.122m).Queen's Club is hosting a women's tournament for the first time since 1973, with Britons Emma Raducanu and Katie Boulter set to compete. Both the men's and women's events are '500' category tournaments - the third-highest tier after the Grand Slams and Masters 1000 ATP event at Queen's has already sold out, while just over 80% of the tickets have so far been bought for the women's prices are lower in the WTA week, which will not yet be able to raise anything like the revenue of the long established men's spent on prize money cannot also be spent on developing grassroots tennis in the UK, and the LTA says the summer events lost a total of £4m last LTA's promise to introduce equal prize money by 2029 is four years before the deadline set by the WTA. While the WTA says major combined events should have equal prize money by 2027, standalone events - which the Queen's week technically is - have until is a combined '250' event, and will feature both men and women in the week before Wimbledon. The women's prize money is $389,000 (£286,650) - making it the highest-paying tournament of that size on the tour this year - while the men will share 756,875 euros (£637,000)."The LTA is committed to growing women's tennis, both at professional and grass-roots level and this move is an important part of that commitment," said LTA chief executive Scott Lloyd."This year fans will be able to enjoy both men's and women's tennis on the biggest stages that we can offer."We want to develop the tournaments so that the women's events deliver a path to profitability and greater visibility for the sport."
The Guardian
25 minutes ago
- The Guardian
New Queen's tournament to offer equal prize money for women by 2029
The LTA has pledged to secure equal prize money for the new women's tennis tournament held at Queen's and the mixed event in Eastbourne by 2029 at the latest. Women's tennis will return to The Queen's Club in Baron's Court, London for the first time in more than 50 years next week in the form of a WTA 500 event, one week before the annual men's ATP 500 event at Queen's. The player list includes Madison Keys, Elena Rybakina, Emma Raducanu and Katie Boulter. The women's prize pot will stand at US$1.415m (£843,705), the highest purse on offer at a WTA 500 event of its draw size on the tour this year. Despite the notable figure, the women's prize money is still around half of the offering for the ATP event, which currently stands at $2,882,544 (£2,124,031). At the WTA Eastbourne event, which has been downgraded to a WTA 250 event in order to make space for the new event at Queen's, the prize money will rise to $389,000 (£286,570), making it the highest paying WTA 250 event on the tour. However, the ATP event's offering of $865,000 (£637,221) is still considerably higher. The LTA has voluntarily added a total of £397,738 to its women's events this year compared to the minimum prize money required by the WTA. Grass court events are particularly expensive to run and, according to the LTA, the events it held in 2024 operated at a loss of £4m in 2024 despite the success of the ATP Queen's event. However, the organisation intends to gradually increase its prize money commitment to the WTA over time and it is hopeful that the Queen's WTA event will eventually become profitable. The WTA event in Queen's has had positive returns as the tournament nears. More than 80% of tickets have already been sold for the tournament. Part of the LTA's motivation for returning women's tennis to Queen's was for the tournament to appeal to a more diverse fanbase and 55% of ticket purchasers for the Queen's WTA 500 event have been female. 'We are making significant increases this year to the women's prize money at Queens and Eastbourne and want to achieve equal prize money as soon as possible,' said Scott Lloyd, the LTA CEO, in a statement. 'The LTA is committed to growing women's tennis, both at professional and grass-roots level and this move is an important part of that commitment.
Reuters
42 minutes ago
- Reuters
Italians Errani and Vavassori cruise to French Open mixed doubles title
PARIS, June 5 (Reuters) - Sara Errani and Andrea Vavassori of Italy swept to a 6-4 6-2 victory over Americans Taylor Townsend and Evan King on Court Philippe Chatrier to claim the French Open mixed doubles crown on Thursday. Errani and Vavassori claimed their second mixed doubles Grand Slam crown, with the first coming at the U.S. Open last year where they also defeated Townsend and her longtime former partner Donald Young. The Italian duo were tested early in the first set but saved two breakpoints to secure a tight hold at 1-1, before grabbing the decisive break and taking a 4-3 lead when Townsend sent a forehand wide. Errani and Vavassori dialled up the intensity to overwhelm their opponents, twice breaking serve in the second set before Townsend netted a volley to give the third seeds a dominant win. The American pairing looked disjointed throughout the match and racked up 25 unforced errors, almost three times as many as Errani and Vavassori's nine.
