AAryna Sabalenka and Paula Badosa stood quietly at the players’ entrance of the Stade Philippe-Chatrier, awaiting their third-round match at the French Open. waiting. There was no joking and no small talk. This is business. The two entered the court and staged a wonderful duel until the end.
In addition to their three matches in the past three months, Sabalenka and Badosa have called each other best friends. They didn’t connect until the 2022 exhibition tiebreaker before Indian Wells, when both players were ranked in the top ten. While they weren’t the first friends to compete on the court, their relationship seemed to reflect changes in WTA locker room dynamics.
The brutality of women’s tennis has historically been a welcome aspect of the sport. The intense competition among these ambitious athletes often affects their relationships, or lack thereof, off the court. Among players such as the Williams sisters and Martina Hingis, Justine Henin and Kim Clijsters, Ana Ivanovic and Jelena Jankovic, and Maria Sharapova The tension between them sets the tone for everyone. Sharapova, who was doing well after a medical timeout in 2014, advised Ivanovic to “check her blood pressure” in a scene that has become part of women’s tennis lore.
In a recent interview, Williams was asked if she still had a “dispute” with Sharapova. But now, when they meet at social events, the two greet each other warmly. “Not anymore,” she said. “I mean, is there a beef? I guess. It’s just competition. She wins. I win, we both want to win, I don’t take it personally. It’s just: ‘Do you want to win?’
Times have changed. The top players of the current generation appear to be able to ease tensions on the field while maintaining a friendlier attitude off it. Players can practice together more frequently and talk more freely when they meet at games. Sabalenka, who followed players like Williams and Sharapova onto the tour, said she began to feel like she should distance herself from her peers.
“I would say I was so closed-minded in the beginning and I thought that was how everything was,” Sabalenka said. “Like, there’s something wrong with everyone, and you can’t be friends with anyone. But over time, as you gain experience, you learn something. You get along really well with each other.
As Coco Gauff’s younger rivals follow in her footsteps to the top of the game, she begins to realize how often she will be facing the same players in her career, and therefore the importance of being friendly. Gough also noted that he recently saw an old photo of teenage Andrei Rublev, Jelena Ostapenko and Daniil Medvedev together in Times Square when they were around Elementary school students ten years ago. They are all still going strong.
“It puts these people I’m going to be around for the rest of my life into perspective,” Goff said. “I really love touring because I know everything is going to be so intense and competitive. At the end of the day, we’re playing against each other 10 to 15 times. I don’t think you have to be best friends at this point, but everyone should be It’s friendly; that’s the difference between the WTA before I came and the WTA now. In general, everyone is friendlier.
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Character types are helpful for touring. Players like Iga Swiatek, Elena Rybakina and Naomi Osaka have quieter personalities compared to some of the extroverts who dominate the game. Sociable players like Ons Jabeur and Daria Kasatkina, whose vlogs even document stories of her becoming friendly with former foes like Ostapenko, also help lighten the mood in the player section of the tournament.
“What I want to say is that right now, the top 10 players, we all have a good relationship with each other and there is no big fight between us off the court,” Sabalenka said. “Of course, we’re rivals on the court, but off the court we’re definitely… we can talk, we can have fun. It’s not like we’re best friends, but it’s not like it’s anything intense either.
It wasn’t until Badosa hit a long backhand at the end of the game that she and Sabalenka resumed their normal relationship. When they met in front of the net, they shared a long, warm hug as friends before leaving the court.
