Ilona Maher sends witty reaction to Aryna Sabalenka's day-off 'mood'

Prominent rugby player Ilona Maher recently shared her thoughts on elite tennis player Aryna Sabalenka, who currently ranks No. 1 in women's singles. The Olympic bronze medalist expressed her views as the tennis player enjoyed her day off.

Ilona Maher has successfully concluded her Premiership Women's Rugby season with the Bristol Bears. Through seven matches, she registered four tries and assisted her team on their way to the semi-finals. They lost the game to Gloucester-Hartpury.

Aryna Sabalenka has clinched twenty Women's Tennis Association Tour-level singles titles and nine WTA 1000 events. The tennis star recently shared an Instagram post, which featured her enjoying her day out.

The post attracted a response from the rugby star, who wrote:

"Need the hat and gelato immediately"

Screenshot of Aryna Sabalenka's Instagram post featuring Ilona Maher's comments | Source: IG/arynasabalenka

Aryna Sabalenka is a former World No. 1 in women's doubles and has won six doubles titles, including the 2021 Australian Open and the 2019 US Open. She won the two major titles with Elise Mertens, a notable Belgian professional tennis player. She was previously coached by Didi Kindlmann and Dmitry Tursunov and is currently coached by Anton Dubrov.

Ilona Maher reflects on body positivity and breaking stereotypes

Ilona Maher has become a well-known advocate for body positivity and has spread awareness consistently. She is also the most followed rugby player on Instagram with 4.9 million followers.

During her interview with CNN in January 2025, she shared her thoughts on body positivity and breaking stereotypes surrounding female athletes:

"I think (people) put female athletes, especially, into a box, like that’s all she is — ‘She plays on the field and that’s it.’ They forget the personalities that we have, how funny we are, the friendships, the way we are outside, the way we like to get dressed up."

She continued:

“So it was important for me to show many sides of me and the body positivity, body appreciation side kind of came naturally in a way because it is something that I feel strongly about. Also, with a lot of my content, I try to see what’s relatable for others. And it’s so interesting in my time of learning to appreciate my body, you kind of start to realize, ‘Oh, everybody has insecurities.’”

In the 2024 Paris Olympics, Maher's team clinched a bronze medal, the country's first Olympic medal in rugby.