Aryna Sabalenka shared a funny and humorous post-match interaction that involved her hitting tennis balls at the Canadian Open tournament mascot.
Sabalenka defeated Croatia's Petra Martic 6-3, 7-5 to get her North American hardcourt campaign off to the best possible start. But after the conclusion of her match, the tournament organizers planned for a fun-filled session as part of a promotional skit.
Sabalenka was fed with tennis balls in the middle of the court and took aim at the tournament mascot, dressed in a stout yellow costume and a red hat. The mascot played along with the crowd, dodging the Sabalenka's ferociously hit short balls in mid-court.
In the video shared on X app by the official National Bank Open page, every Sabalenka shot was greeted with loud cheers from the small pocket of fans that had remained inside the main court. She then reacted to the video with a witty response and laughter emojis.
"They want me to hit this beautiful and friendly mascot, sorry I hit him with a lot of love.
Even though it was clear the short clip was just a promotional stunt by the tournament, it still prompted mixed reactions from tennis fans on social media. One fan called it awful and couldn't understand the gist behind the move. Another questioned what was the funny side of hitting tennis balls directly at a mascot.
Sabalenka will certainly look for an improved performance in her next match against world number 18 Liudmila Samsonova. She tallied an unnecessarily high double faults count (8) and was broken twice from six opportunities.
The Belarusian star also maintained her slim hopes of overtaking Iga Swiatek at the top of the world rankings, even though it doesn't all depend on her. But as long as she keeps winning, maybe she can impart that pressure on the Pole.
Here's the video of Aryna Sabalenka taking aim at the tournament's mascot:
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