Badosa and Sabalenka: When tennis buddies turn into F1 enthusiasts

Spain’s Paula Badosa has a message for Belarus’ Aryna Sabalenka and her boyfriend Georgio. The reigning world number one in women’s tennis in the singles category has spent a day with her boyfriend in Abu Dhabi to attend the last Grand Prix of the year.

She posted a picture of herself and her boyfriend on her official Instagram account with the caption “Race date.” In response, Badosa was quick to respond with a message: “Cuties.” Badosa and Sabalenka have been close friends for a while and have been seen together socializing in the past.

Spain’s tennis star will be hoping that the much-needed break towards the end of the season will help her regain fitness and produce even better performances next year. The New York-born returned to the court earlier this year after spending nearly 12 months on the sidelines because of a serious back injury. She played 55 matches across all competitions in 2024, winning 37 and losing just 18.

Her most impressive performance this year came in the Mubadala Open in Washington where she lifted the title after beating Marie Bouzkova in the final with a score of 6-1, 4-6, 6-4. She finished her season strongly as well as she made back-to-back semifinal appearances in the China Open and later in the Ningbo Open.

On the other hand, Sabalenka had a fabulous year, finishing the year as the world number one after replacing Poland’s Iga Swiatek at the top of the WTA rankings. She lifted two Grand Slams in a year for the first time in her career. She first lifted the Australian Open after beating China’s Qinwen Zheng in the final in straight sets with a score of 6-3, 6-2. She then lifted the US Open after beating America’s Jessica Pegula in the final in straight sets with a score of 7-5, 7-5.