The world number one tennis star made quite the statement yesterday (19 April) when she took a photo on the court.
And it wasn’t a winning selfie or a scenic snap to post to her Instagram story. Instead, Aryna Sablenka was taking matters into her own hands, as she wanted to gather evidence after a clash with the umpire, Miriam Bley.
The Belarusian 26-year-old is currently ranked as the world number one in women’s singles by the Women’s Tennis Association, and is known for an aggressive style of play in the sport and powerful serve.
She faced Elise Mertens yesterday in the quarter-final at the Stuttgart Open.
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And when she was break point down against her opponent, she took problem with an ‘out’ call on her shot from Bley.
Sablenka looked pretty annoyed when it gave Mertens the first service break and a 4-3 lead in the opening set, with the umpire confirming the call with a check.
But she wasn’t letting it slide as she went over to have a look for herself and asked Bley to check it again.
The German umpire refused so the player asked to borrow one of her team members’ phones. She then snapped a photo of the mark while some of the crowd let out cheers and whistles.
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Bley ended up giving Sablenka a warning for unsportsmanlike conduct for this bold behaviour.
It didn’t seem to matter too much anyway as the world number one quickly put the whole thing behind her to immediately break back. She ended up winning 6-4, 6-1.
After the match, the umpire and player shook hands but it left Sablenka thinking Bley hadn’t quite let the bizarre incident go.
“When I gave her a handshake, there was a very interesting look and a very strong handshake. Never had it before,” she said in her on-court interview.
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Asked if she had squeezed Bley’s hand back, Sablenka said: “No, it's okay. Why would I play this game with someone like her? It's okay."
She’ll now face Jasmine Paolini for a place in Monday’s final.
Reacting to the phone incident on X, users wrote that they’d ‘never seen anything like this’.
“Good for her. That’s how you do it,” one said as others called her a ‘queen’ and said she was ‘right’.
Others pointed out that Jaume Munar did the same thing at a match last year, while some say Sablenka’s behaviour was ‘unacceptable’ when Bley had already checked once and made the call.
Jess Battison