“Fight. Keep fighting on every single point.”
That is the motto that tennis world number one, Aryna Sabalenka, says before she dominates the court. Her style of play (and a tattoo on her left arm) has earned her the nickname the tiger. She is an aggressive competitor, mostly playing from the baseline and always looking for a point. Over the course of her career, she has won 21 singles titles in the WTA, including the four Grand Slam titles she has won.
Her most recent Grand Slam victory was the 2025 US Open. She beat Amanda Anisimova in straight sets. According to Tennis, this made her the first woman to win back-to-back US Opens in straight sets (she had won last year’s US Open) and the first woman since Serena Williams to win back-to-back US Opens. This is her 100th win at a Grand Slam tournament, and she has officially surpassed $40 million in prize money accumulated throughout her career. Now she has the most wins and titles for any woman on the WTA tour this year.
The 27-year-old Sabalenka reached world number one in 2023 and reclaimed it in October 2024. Born in Minsk, Belarus, on May 5, 1998, she started tennis at age six, when her father, former ice hockey player Sergey Sabalenka, drove past a tennis court and decided to give it a try. He passed away in 2019 and despite grieving, she continued competing professionally to fulfill their shared dream of reaching world number one and winning several Grand Slams by age 25. She achieved both: her first Grand Slam at 24, her second at 25.
She is still very close with the rest of her family. She has a sister named Tonechkar, and her mother, Yulia Sabalenka, often travels with her to tournaments. Aryna and Yulia have a very loving, close relationship, and Yulia is very supportive of her. On breaks from tennis, she enjoys spending time with family and friends. Sabalenka still wishes there were more time to spend with her loved ones, but the professional tennis schedule is very chaotic.
She has been involved in multiple controversies throughout her career. According to Tennis World USA, in 2020-2021, she went through backlash after the Belarusian protest against the president of Belarus, Aleksandr Lukashenko, and the Belarusian government because she never publicly spoke out against them.
This was heightened in 2020 when she signed a letter which stated that sports and politics should be separate. This letter was seen as a pro-government document, and Sabalenka faced a lot of backlash because of her relation to it. In 2022, after the invasion of Ukraine, Wimbledon decided to ban Belarusian and Russian players from competing that year. In response, Sabalenka said, “I just understand that it’s not my fault.”
One of her most recent controversies was at the 2025 French Open, where she lost the final to Coco Gauff. In her speech after the final was over, she said things that were seen as unprofessional and belittling the success of Gauff. Sabalenka said she had a terrible day of tennis, and Gauff’s win was because of that. ESPN reported later that Sabalenka apologized to Gauff, saying her comments were “completely unprofessional,” and that she and Gauff patched up their relationship at Wimbledon. They displayed this by making TikToks together at Wimbledon.
Gauff isn’t the only person Sabalenka makes TikToks with. She loves making them and is very active on her account. She often enjoys hopping on the newest TikTok trend, making funny videos for her fans to enjoy. A lot of times, she makes videos featuring her coaching staff and other pro tennis players, like one of her recent videos with Carlos Alcaraz after she won the Women’s US Open and he won the Men’s US Open.
There is another man who is a recurring person on her social media, and that is her boyfriend, Georgios Frangulis. He is a Brazilian entrepreneur who founded the company Oakberry in 2016. They specialize in Acai products. He is also a motorsport athlete who races cars. He has been very publicly supportive of her and her tennis career, and she also makes many appearances on his social media.
Sabalenka is definitely an athlete to watch. She is a very talented tennis player and has a funny social media personality off the court that deserves a follow.