While you would think that things in the tennis landscape would be calm during the off-season, Aryna Sabalenka is doing her best to make sure that isn’t the case with her constant media appearances ahead of her upcoming “Battle of the Sexes” exhibition against Nick Kyrgios later this month.
While fan opinion is certainly divided, if not outright against the World No.1 playing the match, the organizers certainly achieved their goal of clicks and engagement. The pair even managed a joint interview with Piers Morgan in the lead-up to the event.
Sabalenka Stands By Sinner
And as we all know by now, where there is Piers Morgan, there will certainly be drama. This time, it came in the form of Jannik Sinner’s positive drug tests resurfacing yet again. Just as he asked Novak Djokovic a couple of weeks ago, Morgan pressed Sabalenka for her opinion on the entire case, and whether she believed Sinner knowingly took any performance-enhancing substances. Sabalenka explained:
“I believe in clean sport, and everyone should receive the same treatment from authorities, but honestly, I don’t think there was anything suspicious in this case. What I personally try to do is to protect myself a lot and be very careful with everything, because you never know what a positive test in these cases could trigger.”
Just like Djokovic, who believes there were many “red flags” but still maintains that Sinner did not knowingly do anything wrong, Sabalenka agrees that while keeping the sport clean is crucial, she sees nothing suspicious about Sinner’s situation.
Kyrgios Sounds the Alarm
As the interview was a joint one, Kyrgios, who has been vocal about the case during his time away from tennis, did not hesitate to share his view. Unlike Sabalenka, the Aussie was far more wary of the Italian’s situation:
“The key thing Novak said was that whether it was there or whether it wasn’t… he’s still responsible. Not a good look for the sport.”
The jury will likely always be out on whether Sinner was truly innocent or whether he dodged a bullet due to his status in the modern game. But as Sabalenka and Kyrgios offer starkly different opinions, the case that shook tennis last year continues to ignite debate across the sport.
Main Photo Credit: Susan Mullane-Imagn Images
