Aryna Sabalenka has offered to take defeated semi-finalist Paula Badosa on a shopping trip after dumping her out of the Australian Open.
Sabalenka earned a guaranteed £1.5million for making it to her third consecutive Australian Open final, after beating world No.12 Badosa in straight sets.
The pair are good friends off the court and Sabalenka has promised to treat Badosa to a spot of shopping as an apology for beating her at Melbourne Park.
Speaking to Jelena Dokic after the semi-final, Sabalenka said: “I hope she’s still my friend. I’m sure she hates me for the next hours and day, it’s okay I can handle that.
“After that I think we’ll be back as friends, back going out together, shopping… I promise Paula we’ll go shopping and I’ll pay for whatever she wants.”
When quizzed on how she’ll prepare for the upcoming final clash, the Belarussian added: “It’s all about having fun on the next day and putting aside tennis. Of course, I’m going to practice a bit, but for the rest of the day I’ll put aside tennis.
“Shopping with Paula? Maybe, I hope she’ll still be here and we can go shop. But I’ll put a limit for her because she can go crazy.”
On their relationship as both opponents and friends, Sabalenka explained: “I think after a couple of battles against each other, we spoke and decided to put it to one side. She wanted it badly, we both wanted it badly, it’s our dream.
“Here we’re opponents and no matter what happens on the court, we are going to be friends after our matches. It’s tough to do but we agreed on that.”
The 26-year-old now has the chance to become the first player since Martina Hingis between 1997 and 1999 to ‘three-peat’ the Australian Open women’s singles title.
On the unique piece of history dangling in front of her, Sabalenka said: “Just saying that and I have goosebumps. Honestly, I’m so proud of myself and proud of my team that we put ourselves in this situation. It’s a privilege.
“If I can put myself in the history [books] it’s going to mean a lot. At first I was dreaming to win one Grand Slam, now it’s incredible. I’m going to go out and leave everything I have in the final.”
Sabalenka will play either Madison Keys or Iga Swiatek in Saturday’s showpiece event.
