Aryna Sabalenka was sublime last night, putting in a near-faultless performance to quell the threat of Naomi Osaka.
And, whilst Andy Roddick was full of praise for the Belarusian and her clinical display, he could not assess the match without reviewing the post-match antics.
After all, through no fault of the player’s, the American found himself struggling to watch what was unfolding on the Philippe Chatrier court.
Taking aim at Fabrice Santoro, the man enlisted to interview Aryna Sabalenka afterwards, Roddick was unhappy with what he saw from the Frenchman.
Andy Roddick reacts after ‘cringing’ at Aryna Sabalenka’s on-court interview
Speaking on the latest iteration of his Served with Andy Roddick podcast, he took particular issue with how the world number one was almost forced to dance for the crowd’s amusement straight after her win.
Roddick prefaced his claims by stating that he does like Santoro, but then claimed: “But saying ‘will you dance for us?’ Is such a weird thing to ask. And then she does it a little bit, and it’s kind of over and then being like ‘moonwalk’.”
He put himself in Sabalenka’s shoes, adding: “Maybe people loved it, I just [tense up]. There was one at the Australian Open, and it wasn’t Courier, and they asked some female ‘Could you twirl for us? ’ I was like, what the f—- are we doing?
“Maybe I could be wrong. I am fully open to that being a possibility. And when it’s like dance for us, I am [cringing].”
His biggest gripe was how Sabalenka could not win. Roddick concluded by stating: “But if Sabalenka is like ‘no thank you’, everyone is like ‘what you can’t play along, that’s no fun’. It’s a lose-lose situation. Maybe I am putting myself in that situation and realising how uncomfortable I would be if someone was saying dance for me.”
Roddick’s stance is perfectly justified. It was a cringe-inducing moment, with Sabalenka’s lighthearted post-win challenge with Novak Djokovic twisted into an awkward on-court experience for all involved.
Fortunately, we did get some notable quotes from her speech, as Sabalenka spoke about finally playing a night session here at Roland Garros.
Aryna Sabalenka could complete the career Grand Slam this year
Last year saw Sabalenka enjoy an outstanding year laden with success. However, she inexplicably finished 2025 with just one major title, won at her final opportunity in New York.
Despite her consistent quality at all of the big events, she routinely fell late on, losing in both the Australian Open and Roland Garros finals, and the semi-finals at Wimbledon.
However, her path to the title here in Paris this year has already cleared significantly. Sabalenka remains the outstanding candidate to win it all, and by some margin as well.
Then, heading to the grass, it’s expected that her bruising power and beautifully enhanced touch will only be amplified on that surface.
Who is Aryna Sabalenka’s biggest threat for the Roland Garros title now?
It’s not beyond the realms of possibility to think that she could win both Roland Garros and Wimbledon this year, and in doing so complete the career Grand Slam.
In fact, it could be argued that she’s actually favoured to do so.
Aryna Sabalenka reacts after awkward on-court interview
Sabalenka has since taken to Instagram to address her on-court dancing, although not in a way that Roddick has.
Instead, she opted for an upbeat outlook, writing: “Moonwalking on Chartrier feels very appropriate for my first @rolandgarros night match. Thank you for dancing with me tonight, Paris!”
It seems that, whilst others might have found Santoro’s request uncomfortable, she remains intent on keeping the positivity high.
