Aryna Sabalenka revealed that her friendship with Iga Świątek has improved after an initial period of no communication between them.
Sabalenka and Świątek have faced each other 12 times on the WTA Tour, with the former World No. 1 leading their head-to-head record with eight victories. Their most recent match took place in the semifinals of the 2024 Cincinnati Open, where Sabalenka won with a score of 6-3, 6-3. She then went on to defeat Jessica Pegula in the final to claim the title.
Aryna Sabalenka Sheds Light Into Friendship With Iga Świątek Ahead of Their French Open SF Match
Sabalenka and Świątek are currently in Paris competing at the 2025 French Open. Sabalenka is the top seed at the clay-court Major and has advanced to the semifinals after defeating Kamilla Rakhimova, Jil Teichmann, Olga Danilović, 16th seed Amanda Anisimova, and eighth seed Zheng Qinwen.
Meanwhile, Świątek is the three-time defending champion at the French Open and is seeded fifth at the tournament. She secured her place in the final four, where she will face Sabalenka after triumphing over Rebecca Šramková, Emma Raducanu, Jaqueline Cristian, 12th seed Elena Rybakina, and 13th seed Elina Svitolina.
While speaking at a press conference ahead of her semifinal match against Świątek, Sabalenka discussed the positive development of her relationship with the Pole. She stated that they now have a strong friendship and that they practice together frequently and have come to understand each other well.
“Before it wasn’t any communication or any practices with her but now we’re getting better. We get along better and we practice more often and we know each other quite well,” Sabalenka said.
Speaking about their upcoming semifinal match at the 2025 French Open, Sabalenka expressed her excitement about facing Świątek. The Belarusian also asserted that she will put up a strong fight and try to win the match.
“We had a lot of great battles in the past. I’m super excited and it’s a high level match and I’m super excited to go out there and to fight and to do everything I need to get the win,” she added.
Aryna Sabalenka Points Out When Her Friendship With Iga Świątek Flourished
In the aforementioned press conference, Sabalenka recalled how her friendship with Świątek began. She revealed that at the 2024 WTA Finals in Riyadh, she had asked the Pole to film a TikTok video with her, which marked the start of their friendship.
“Actually, I think everything started when I just came to her and asked to do TikTok in that [WTA] Finals in Riyadh. Since then, we were like, okay, maybe we can communicate, we can be good to each other, we can practice sometimes,” Sabalenka said.
Sabalenka described their TikTok dance in Riyadh as the “first step towards a better relationship” between them.
“So I think that was like the first step to a better relationship. The TikTok we did in Riyadh last year in the [WTA] Finals, we just did like a little dance together. So I think since then we’re better with each other,” she added.
Looking ahead, the winner of the semifinal match between Sabalenka and Świątek will advance to face either second seed Coco Gauff, sixth seed Mirra Andreeva, or wild card Loïs Boisson in the 2025 French Open final.
