Sabalenka Responds To Engagement Rumors After Wearing Elegant Ring
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Aryna Sabalenka answered whether she is engaged after a picture of her wearing a fancy ring was revealed on social media.
Sabalenka already has enough pressure on her shoulders as the WTA World No. 1. She ended a season at No. 1 for the first time last year, beating her rival Iga Swiatek to that position despite being ranked No. 3 at one stage.
The Belarusian had not won a title for over six months before August's Cincinnati Open. However, winning the title in Ohio was followed by an even more significant triumph at the US Open. Sabalenka beat Jessica Pegula in both finals.
Swiatek was overtaken a couple of weeks after the Wuhan Open, another tournament Sabalenka won. The Pole missed the entire Asian swing, which fans discovered in November was due to her being provisionally suspended after testing positive for the banned substance trimetazidine.
That provisional ban was lifted on October 4th after further testing proved that melatonin tablets Swiatek purchased had been contaminated with trimetazidine. The 23-year-old accepted a one-month suspension, most of which she already served provisionally.
Sabalenka was twice asked about her rival's doping case. After beating Swiatek in a doubles match at the World Tennis League last month, she said many people jump to conclusions without knowing all the facts in doping cases.
A few days later, Sabalenka said no one will ever know for sure what happened in Swiatek's case. The 26-year-old also emphasized that she wants tennis to be a clean sport.
Testing positive for a banned substance was an adversity Swiatek had to overcome. Sabalenka had to manage a more tragic situation in March last year when her ex-boyfriend Konstantin Koltsov died after what police described as an apparent suicide.
The WTA world No. 1 may have been helped through that trauma by her new boyfriend, Georgios Frangulis, who Sabalenka began dating in April 2024. He has since become a regular in his girlfriend's social media posts.
Frangulis travels to most tournaments with Sabalenka, and the three-time Grand Slam champion has repeatedly joked in her online posts about turning him into a "social media boyfriend." The two appear very happy together.
Rumors emerged that the two may have already agreed to marry after Sabalenka shared a picture of her wearing an expensive ring that could easily have been mistaken for an engagement ring.
However, Sabalenka confirmed that the two are not engaged and that the beautiful ring was not a sign of an imminent engagement.
"No guys, it's just a beautiful ring, we are not engaged."
An example of a couple who did swiftly get engaged was Anastasia Potapova and Alexander Shevchenko, both tennis players. Unfortunately, their relationship did not work out, and they recently got divorced.
2023 Wimbledon champion Marketa Vondrousova is another player who got divorced. Sabalenka will not suffer that fate after confirming she is not engaged to her boyfriend. But it remains to be seen what 2025 will bring.
