Aryna Sabalenka made her debut at the WTA 1.00 in Miami with a 6-4, 6-3 victory in 1 hour and 23 minutes against her close friend Paula Badosa. The Belarusian has gone through a hard blow, the death, due to alleged suicide, of her ex-partner, the former NHL ice hockey player Konstantin Koltsov, and the Spaniard wanted to show her all her support despite the defeat. She has taken care of protecting her during these days, avoiding questions and ensuring that her privacy is respected.
Both tennis players finished the match by uniting in an emotional hug. Sabalenka’s strength and drive, despite the difficult moment he is experiencing, did not take Badosa by surprise. “No, I wasn’t surprised at all. Like I said, she is a very, very strong woman, with a strong personality. She can be seen on the track. Especially, I know her off the court,” said the Spaniard in the press conference after the match. Koltsov, 42, according to police information, died from a fall from a balcony of a hotel in Miami where he was staying and, presumably, it was a suicide. “I knew he was going to play very well or average. I told him I wished him the best. Let’s see if she can go very far in this tournament,” Paula supported her, for whom it was not easy at all to face her best friend in these circumstances.
For Badosa it was also an important and delicate match, and several problems were encountered. The match should have started at 16:00 (Spanish time), and, due to the rain, it started at 22:13 (Spanish time). The Catalan was coming off a 2023 complicated by injuries and had not had her best start to the year, she is currently 80th in the ranking due to this. In the first match, she came back against the Romanian Simona Halep and, even though she retired limping, she left a good feeling. “I’m very happy. After all, I have been struggling a lot with my injury. I’m happy to be back on a track. The first day I played for two and a half hours, so that’s important. I feel good. Today another match, a pretty good level, so I’m happy with it,” revealed the Spaniard.
Defeat doesn’t taste so bad to her, once she has recovered from her injury. “Three weeks ago I didn’t know she could play here. She was in my country fighting, I didn’t know what to do with my back, in a lot of pain. Coming back here and being able to play is already a victory for me,” she explained. Before her, even though she was in a complicated personal situation, she had a very difficult opponent. “I think it was good. I’ve been playing for the first time, after almost a year, eight days in a row. So, for me, I’m very happy about that, because I couldn’t play Indian Wells. I started training there. I am very happy to be able to do it again and play high-level matches. They were, perhaps, small details. Plus, he played very well. With everything that’s going on, the credit goes to her. So, congratulations,” Badosa declared.
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The Catalan wants to test herself to the fullest on clay. “Play as much as possible. For my injury, I think clay will help. I will feel a little better because it is not so hard,” she expressed. She wants to be in Charleston, Stuttgart and Madrid, in “all possible tournaments.” “If I can get many games like today, against the best, to get that rhythm, it would be great,” she said. Both tennis players, who were dressed in black (Paula clarified that it was a coincidence), showed a great image on the court, despite each one’s situation. “We are both quite strong mentally, we are strong women. She proved it, I proved it. We knew how to disconnect in those two hours, an hour and a half into the game. She played very well. I played very well for where I come from. All of this comes from because we know that we have been through many things in our lives, we are strong women and we know how to separate that at that moment,” Badosa concluded.
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