Aryna Sabalenka is one of tennis’ most outspoken figures, with her views on her sport always commanding great attention.
Whether that be on controversial topics, her opponents, or, in this case, menial suggestions, the comments the world number one makes continue to whip up storms.
This particular example has exhibited a rather negative reaction from most fans of the sport, given the change that the Belarusian has proposed tennis make to its pre-tournament media.
Taking to X, she wrote: “How about pre tournament media to be changed? Top 10 players together for press conference? F1 style?
“Fun no?”
The general consensus seems to agree with the final word of her tweet: no, it would not be fun.
Aryna Sabalenka’s media suggestion provokes a negative response
This is a topic that has sparked plenty of debate, with some big names weighing in on her suggestion.
Ben Rothenberg, one of tennis’ most renowned journalists, replied with caution: “Would be game to try it somewhere but in my experience with that style some of the people up there will spend longgggg stretches of time up on the podium without getting asked anything, and it becomes a big waste of their time.”
Other fans were not so gentle when delivering their thoughts.
Another commenter then simply wrote: “Fun no? No. It will be a mess.”
Aryna Sabalenka gives her thoughts on the schedule
Elsewhere, in her pre-tournament press conference ahead of the Canadian Open, Aryna Sabalenka also offered her opinion on another topic of more importance than her proposed media change.
Discussing the schedule and the myriad of withdrawals that this portion of the season seems to incur, she admitted: “Yeah, it’s very tricky scheduling lots of tournaments, two-week tournaments.
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“If you go far at the grass swing, like you kind of don’t have much time to reset, recharge, and go back on court to practice and then play the tournament, you don’t have much time for that. So kind of like skipping the vacation time, which is really needed after that big part of the season, so it’s tricky to schedule.
“Then if you go far in the grass court, you feel really fatigued and, like, you’re not able to pull out any good tennis, so what’s the reason of coming when your body is really under so much stress, not enough time for recovery, you kind of force your body too much, and then it can cause you an injury, so it’s very tricky. But this year I didn’t do well, so I’m here (laughing).”
This comes after Jannik Sinner and Novak Djokovic withdrew from the Canadian Open, to much criticism.
