Aryna Sabalenka recently danced with her team on Court Philippe Chatrier before the start of her campaign at the 2024 French Open. This ritual of dancing has become a tradition for her before every Grand Slam tournament.
Aryna Sabalenka is having a good season thus far. She has already claimed one title, the Australian Open, and had runner-up finishes at the Brisbane International, Madrid Open, and Italian Open. She also reached the quarterfinals at the Stuttgart Open.
The World No. 2 is currently in Paris and set to kick off her campaign at Roland Garros. She is entering the clay-court Grand Slam tournament following impressive performances in Madrid and Rome.
At the recently concluded Italian Open, Sabalenka had defeated players like Katie Volynets, Dayana Yastremska, Elina Svitolina, Jelena Ostapenko, and Danielle Collins. However, she fell short in the final against Iga Swiatek, who claimed her third Italian Open title.
Aryna Sabalenka, who had a semifinal finish at last year's French Open, is seeded second in this year's tournament. Recently, she took to social media to share a video of herself dancing with her team, including coach Anton Dubrov, fitness trainer Jason Stacy, and hitting partner Andrei Vasilevski, on Court Philippe Chatrier before the start of her Roland Garros campaign.
"Warming up for @rolandgarros like…" Sabalenka captioned her Instagram post.
Sabalenka initiated the tradition of dancing with her team before Grand Slam tournaments earlier this year, ahead of the Australian Open when she danced to the tune of Pitbull's hit single, 'Fireball.'
Aryna Sabalenka had a semifinal finish in last year's French Open
Aryna Sabalenka had a semifinal finish at the 2023 French Open. She was seeded second in the tournament and kicked off her campaign with a dominant victory over Marta Kostyuk, triumphing 6-3, 6-2 in the first round.
The World No. 2 continued her winning streak by defeating Belarusian qualifier Iryna Shymanovich 7-5, 6-2, and then Kamilla Rakhimova 6-2, 6-2 in the third and fourth rounds, respectively.
The Belarusian faced tough competition in the later rounds but managed to overcome Sloane Stephens 7-6(5), 6-4 in the fourth round and Elina Svitolina 6-4, 6-4 in the quarterfinals.
However, Sabalenka's journey came to an end in the semifinals when she faced off against the eventual runner-up, Karolina Muchova. Despite a valiant effort, Sabalenka fell short, losing 6-7(5), 7-6(5), 5-7 to the former World No.8.