There was a time when the world didn’t know enough about Aryna Sabelenka and the initial impressions may not have been all positive, but the world No 1 has transformed that initial pessimism from some tennis fans into a wave of popular support over the last few years.
In an era when too many sports guard are desperate to give their fans as little as possible when it comes to glimpsing into their private lives, Sabalenka has gone the other way and become the tennis queen of TikTok, with the fun she has off the court allowing her to build up a huge social media following.
She loves to post images of her dances with her team, practical jokes they may have played on each other and if not afraid to make fun of herself by posing for comical photos or taking party in playful dances.
The intense tennis player who screams her way through matches and often gives the impression that she is an explosive character who struggles to contain her anger, but the reality is a little different when she puts her rackets down.
Sabalenka has long been one of the jokers of the tennis world, with her beaming smile and endearing personality shining through as she made a positive impression on the Netflix show Break Point, which took tennis fans behind the scenes on the women’s and men’s tours.
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By then, she was already building up her following on social media, with her delightful TikTok dances especially appealing to young girls were were also part of that booming trend.
Her followers have lived through the trauma of her battling service yips that came close to forcing her out of the sport in 2022 to witnessing her impressive comeback and rise to world No 1, with that story hard to resist.
We have also seen her vulnerable side on numerous occasions, with US Open chiefs cheekily releasing video of her smashing a racket after she lost the 2023 US Open final against Coco Gauff.
She has had numerous meltdowns on court that make her triumphs all the more relatable and when she makes a mistake, she is always quick to own it.
That was the case after this year’s French Open, when she suggested Gauff’s win was primarily down to how bad she had played.
That narrative did not paint Sabalenka in a good light, but she didn’t take long to step back from her error and put it right.
“I did what I did. I get what I deserve, I believe,” Sabalenka said, referring to the media fallout following her comments after the French Open final.
“I didn’t want to offend her. I was just completely upset with myself and emotions got over me. I completely lost it. Of course she’s got my respect. She knows it. I’m happy that she was, like: ‘Yeah, it’s all good, don’t worry.’”