Aryna Sabalenka reveals details of her double date with Novak Djokovic and his wife
NewsFriday, 31 October 2025 at 19:10
Aryna Sabalenka has revealed some insights she received from going on a double date with Novak Djokovic.
The WTA world No. 1's strong relationship with Djokovic has been known for some time. Sabalenka respects the tennis legend and always takes his words seriously when he offers advice or insights.
At the 2025 Wimbledon Championships, Djokovic and Sabalenka played a game of trying to hit a tube of tennis balls on the court, which the Serbian won. Sabalenka then revealed that he spoke to her for an extended period afterward.
This year's US Open champion is in Riyadh for the 2025 WTA Finals. She seeks her first title at the year-end championships, 12 months after losing to the eventual champion Coco Gauff in the semifinal.
Speaking in a WTA Finals press conference, Sabalenka said the double date idea with their respective partners came from Djokovic after they practiced side-by-side at a tournament.
"Hmmm... Actually, we saw each other on the courts. We were practicing. I don't remember. We were just practicing together. We were at the same place. He was just like, Yeah, let's go for the date. That's how it happened. So Novak (laughter)."
Sabalenka revealed that speaking to Djokovic has helped her to apply a different mindset on the court of thinking from the perspective of someone watching the match rather than getting lost in the moment.
"How to stay settled and how to look at everything as you're looking from the outside on the situation on the court, off the court. Just to, like, be able to sit back and look at everything. Kind of like it's not you looking, it's someone else looking at your situation. I think that's the best lesson that you could take from Novak."
Despite remaining hungry for success at 38 years old, Djokovic has talked openly about how he is happy to help ATP or WTA players who want support by sharing any advice and wisdom from his remarkably successful career.
Sabalenka and any other players would be wise to take advantage of that. Djokovic is the most statistically successful player in tennis history and has also built a reputation as one of the mentally toughest athletes ever.
Sabalenka is the 2025 WTA Finals favorite
Although she has never won the event, Sabalenka always starts as the favorite for hard-court tournaments because of her outstanding record of reaching the last six Grand Slam finals on the surface, winning four of them.
Gauff produced a superb performance against her in last year's semifinal. The American has proved a challenging opponent for Sabalenka because of her athleticism and defensive skills, as shown by Gauff beating her in the 2023 US Open and 2025 French Open finals.
2023 WTA Finals champion and world No. 2 Iga Swiatek is also among the favorites after significantly improving her level since the grass-court swing, including winning Wimbledon and the 2025 Cincinnati Open.
Amanda Anisimova, who has reached two Grand Slam finals this year, Jessica Pegula, Madison Keys, Elena Rybakina, and Jasmine Paolini are the other players vying for the title.
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