“I hope she continues to be my friend and if she wants…”

The recent semi-final of Australian Open witnessed an exciting confrontation between Aryna Sabalenka and Paula Badosa. The Belarusian tennis player, world number one, managed to beat the Spanish player with a score of 6-4 and 6-2 in one hour and 26 minutes of play.

This victory assured Sabalenka a place in her third consecutive final of the tournament and a £1.7 million reward. However, what captured fans’ attention was not just the skill on the court, but the gesture friendly from Sabalenka towards Badosa after the game.

The two tennis players, known for their closeness off the court, have shown that competition is not at odds with friendship. Sabalenka, aware of the harshness of the defeat for her friend, promised to bring Paula Badosa shopping as a way apology for having eliminated her from the tournament.

“I hope she continues to be my friend. I’m sure you’ll hate me for the next few hours and days, but I can handle it.“said Sabalenka in a post-match interview.

“After that, I think we will be friends again, we will go out together, shopping… I promise Paula that we will go shopping and I will pay for whatever she wants,” Sabalenka added, showing her more generous side. The relationship between the two tennis players is a clear example of how competition and friendship can coexist, even at the highest levels of the sport.

Sabalenka also shared her plans to prepare for the final. “It’s about having fun the next day and putting tennis aside. Of course, I’m going to practice a little, but for the rest of the day I’ll leave tennis aside. Go shopping with Paula? Maybe, I hope he’s still here and we can go shopping. But I’ll set a limit because she can go crazy.“, joked the Belarusian.

For her part, Badosa accepted the gift and the proposal to go shopping together and laughingly acknowledged at a press conference that she would buy “something very expensive” at the expense of Sabalenka’s pocket.

A special relationship

This closeness and sense of humor highlight the particular dynamic between Sabalenka and Badosa. Despite being rivals on the field, they have decided to keep their friendship intact, an agreement that they have reinforced through several sporting battles.

“I think after a couple of battles between us, we talked and decided to put it aside. She really wanted it, we both wanted it, it’s our dream. Here we are opponents and no matter what happens on the court, we are going to be friends after our games. It’s hard to do, but we’ve agreed“Sabalenka explained.

Now, Sabalenka has the opportunity to make history by becoming the first female player since Martina Hingis in 1997-1999 to win the Australian Open women’s singles title three consecutive times.

“Just saying that and I get chills. Honestly, I’m so proud of myself and my team for putting us in this situation. It’s a privilege. If I can put myself in the history books, it will mean a lot. At first I dreamed of winning a Grand Slam, now it’s incredible. “I’m going to go out and give everything I have in the final,” Sabalenka concluded.

This friendly gesture from Sabalenka towards Badosa underlines the importance of sportsmanship and friendship in sport, reminding us that, at the end of the day, personal relationships can prevail over competition.