Anastasia Potapova was drawn into a spat with her boyfriend, Dutch tennis player Tallon Griekspoor, while on court at the Madrid Open, which has captured the attention of Jessica Pegula and Madison Keys.
After entering the main draw of the WTA 1000 event as a lucky loser, Potapova produced a fairytale run to the semifinals, where her campaign ultimately came to an end after a tense exchange with her boyfriend.
Jessica Pegula and Madison Keys Weigh In on Anastasia Potapova’s Courtside Spat
Griekspoor was a familiar presence in Potapova’s player’s box during her campaign in Madrid, with the 25-year-old crediting him for providing her with the motivation to seal her 6-1, 6-7 (4), 6-3 win over KarolÃna PlÃÅ¡ková in the quarterfinals.
However, their courtside dynamic did not have the same effect during her semifinal loss to Marta Kostyuk. As Potapova’s composure began to slip, they got involved in a heated tiff, during which Griekspoor told his girlfriend to “stop f**king talking.”
Griekspoor also urged the Austrian to believe in herself, appearing unconvinced by her response.
“You need to believe in yourself,” Griekspoor said.
“I do,” she responded emphatically.
“You don’t,” he said, followed by, “Then show us.”
The squabble became a talking point during a recent episode of “The Player’s Box Podcast,” with Jessica Pegula calling attention to the couple’s “bickering” during the match.
“Griekspoor coaching Potapova in the semifinals. It got a little heated at the end of it. They were bickering a little bit. He hasn’t really been in the box that much, I don’t think. At least I haven’t really seen videos of it. I don’t know if he has been or not, but she obviously went deep in the tournament, so there was a lot of mics picking up their conversations,” Pegula said.
Madison Keys, who is coached by her husband, Bjorn Fratangelo, admitted that she couldn’t quite relate to Potapova’s reaction, as the Austrian vented her frustration by hitting her racket on the court and snapping at her boyfriend. “I don’t think so. I’m not really like a external snap sort of person. I think just internally, I just slowly start imploding and shut down.”
The 31-year-old also said she was willing to give Griekspoor the benefit of the doubt regarding his unwise remark, disclosing that she had initially been charmed by the interaction before things took a turn.
“Maybe he was just really trying to like get his point across that like he believed in her. Exactly. And he was like, ‘You can do this.’ I’m going to take the benefit of the doubt here because earlier I was like, that is the cutest thing I’ve ever seen. Like that was such a great interaction and then when he said, ‘You don’t,’ I was like maybe he just missed the mark a little bit. That’s okay,” Keys said.
Pegula also empathized with Griekspoor, suggesting that he may have believed that some tough love was exactly what Potapova needed in the high-pressure situation.
“You also don’t know like obviously I think there’s some things people say to certain people knowing like it will get them going as well and sometimes people need to be like triggered differently. Not saying like personally, but maybe like in a competitive situation, maybe he thought that’s what she needed. I don’t know,” the world No. 5 said.
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Jessica Pegula and Madison Keys have now shifted their focus to their Italian Open campaigns, where they have received first-round byes.
Meanwhile, Anastasia Potapova has already battled her way past Irina-Camelia Begu and Nikola Bartůňková in the qualifiers to reach the main draw. She will face Dalma Gálfi in the first round. On the men’s side, her boyfriend, Tallon Griekspoor, awaits the winner of the match between Alexander Blockx and Federico Cinà in the second round.
