Paula Badosa and Aryna Sabalenka have revealed more about their connection, claiming it goes beyond tennis.
In their four meetings thus far on the tour, Sabalenka and Badosa are tied 2-2 in their head-to-head matches. Badosa prevailed in their first two encounters at the Cincinnati Open and the WTA Finals in 2021, but Sabalenka won in their most recent encounters at the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix in 2022 and 2023.
The two players get along well off the court despite frequently competing for the same titles on the WTA tour. When asked about her relationship with Badosa, Sabalenka said that it is difficult for a player to find their soulmate while playing on the tour.
Sabalenka expressed her thoughts about the connection with Badosa and said: “It is very difficult. It doesn’t happen very often that you can find your soulmate on the circuit because we compete against each other. But we had this deal: on the court we are opponents, and we can shout whatever we want, but off the court, we are friends again.”
She added: “We can take a day, depending on who wins, to accept the fact that one of us lost, but then we become friends again. It’s hard, and I’m super happy to have her. She is a very nice girl and having her by my side is very important to me.”
The Spaniard expressed her devotion to the Belarusian after Aryna Sabalenka talked highly of Paula Badosa and their connection. Badosa referred to the world No. 1 as the ‘best’ in response to a social media post that included Sabalenka’s words. Sabalenka responded by declaring her love for her friend.
Aryna Sabakenka says it’s tough to find a soulmate on tour, but she’s found it in Paula Badosa:
“It doesn't happen very often that you can find your soulmate on the circuit because we compete against each other. But we had this deal… on the court we are opponents, we can shout… pic.twitter.com/y2vGCftH1c
— The Tennis Letter (@TheTennisLetter) October 1, 2023
Love u girl❤️❤️❤️ https://t.co/wTrbHWQFG9
— Sabalenka Aryna (@SabalenkaA) October 2, 2023
Paula Badosa in 2023
LWWLWWWLLW Ranked world no.54, the Spaniard played her last match on the 7th of July when she had to retire when playing against world no.44 Marta Kostyuk in the 2nd round and the scoreline was 6-2 1-0 .
This year Badosa achieved a compiled 18-9 match record. Paula Badosa’s most significant result of this year was getting to the semifinal in Adelaide.
Sabalenka in Beijing, ranking, and results in 2023
LWWWWLWWWW At the moment ranked no.1, the Belarussian has managed to achieve an overall 52-11 match record in 2023. Sabalenka is currently competing in Beijing where she bested the world no.31 Sofia Kenin 6-1 6-2 and the world no.56 Katie Boulter 7-5 7-62.
Aryna Sabalenka will square off with the world no.36 Jasmine Paolini in the 3rd round. Their current record is 2-1 for Paolini.
Aryna clinched 3 titles in 2023 in Adelaide, Australian Open and Madrid. Sabalenka was the finalist in Indian Wells (BNP Paribas Open), in Stuttgart (Porsche Tennis Grand Prix) and at the U.S. Open.
Aryna won 13 titles in her career: 9 on hard courts, 2 on clay courts and 2 on indoor courts. (See the list of her titles)
Paula Badosa and Aryna Sabalenka played each other 4 times. Their actual head to head record is 2-2. Previously, the last time they fought against each other, Aryna Sabalenka won 4-6 6-4 6-4 in the quarter in Stuttgart (Porsche Tennis Grand Prix) on the 21st of April 2023.
Here are the highlights.
