US tennis icon felt uneasy watching Aryna – Sports News
U.S. tennis legend Andy Roddick conceded that he felt “weird” whereas watching Aryna Sabalenka dance during a post-match interview following her dominant win over Naomi Osaka.
In the primary girls’s night time session match at Roland Garros since 2023, Sabalenka secured a 7-5, 6-3 victory over Osaka on Court Philippe-Chatrier. Moments after punching her ticket to the French Open quarterfinal, the World No. 1 was requested by broadcaster Fabrice Santoro to dance for the sold-out crowd.
Sabalenka begrudgingly agreed so long as everybody else in attendance danced together with her. As Michael Jackson’s 1982 hit ‘Thriller’ started enjoying over the audio system, the 28-year-old pulled off a number of strikes earlier than Santoro requested she attempt the moonwalk.
On the most recent episode of his Served podcast, Roddick admitted that he didn’t benefit from the weird post-match interview. “I don’t know, I get weird,” he started. “I always get along with Fabrice Santoro. Not a lot of the veterans when you come out are super nice. He was always great. I like Fabrice Santoro.
“Saying, ‘Will you dance for us?’ is just such a weird thing to ask. I don’t like it. And then when she does it a little bit and it’s kind of over, and then being like, ‘Moonwalk.’ I’m like, ‘F—.’ I don’t know. Maybe people loved it. I might be in the minority.”
Roddick’s co-host, Michael Hayden, expressed a related sentiment, arguing that Santoro positioned Sabalenka in a “lose-lose” state of affairs. “Just for me personally, I get the personality side of these post-match interviews. And I’m sure you were asked to do some crazy stuff,” Hayden stated.
“But it’s just such a lose-lose for Sabalenka. Props to her for doing it, but I just thought it was weird. I think that’s such a weird thing to ask somebody to do in a professional setting.”
Roddick recalled a related incident that unfolded on the 2015 Australian Open, during which Eugenie Bouchard was requested to twirl on the courtroom and speak about her outfit. “At the Aussie Open … they asked some female, ‘Can you twirl for us?’” he added. “I’m like, ‘What the f— are we doing?’
“I don’t know, maybe some people like it. I could be wrong. I’m fully open to that being a possibility. And when it’s like, ‘Dance for us,’ I’m like, ‘Ergh.’ But to your point, if Sabalenka’s like, ‘No thank you,’ then everyone’s like, ‘What, you can’t play along? That’s no fun.’ It’s a lose-lose situation.”
In protection of Santoro, Sabalenka and Novak Djokovic confronted off in a light-hearted dance battle following their respective wins at this 12 months’s French Open. Once the latter tried the Thriller choreography after his second-round win, the previous adopted go well with someday later.
Discussing her playful competitors with Djokovic, Sabalenka instructed reporters: “I love that I’m the second one, so he has to come up with something. I just have to follow it and do it a little bit better.”
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