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.
Iga Swiatek eased into the semi-finals (Jon Buckle/PA)
'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'.
Aryna Sabalenka is bidding for her first French Open title (Jon Buckle/PA)
'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.
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.
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