Andy Roddick blasts Aryna Sabalenka’s ‘weird’ treatment during Roland Garros post-match interview
Aryna Sabalenka safely came through her fourth round match with Naomi Osaka, but Andy Roddick was far from happy with the way the World No. 1 was treated after the match.
Sabalenka defeated Osaka 7-5, 6-3 in the first women’s night session match on Philippe-Chatrier for three years to secure her place in the quarter-finals.
The World No. 1 was interviewed by Fabrice Santoro after the match, who asked the four-time singles Grand Slam champion to ‘dance’ during her celebrations.
Andy Roddick, speaking on Served, believes the request was strange at best and ended up putting the World No. 1 in a ‘lose-lose situation’ during her on-court interview.
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Baffled by the entire sequence, the American broadcaster said: “I get weird. I always got along with Fabrice Santoro. He was like not a lot of the veterans when you come out are like super nice. He was always great. I like Fabric Santoro.
“Like saying, “Will you dance for us?” is such a weird thing to ask. Like I don’t like it. And then when she does it a little bit and it’s kind of over and then being like moonwalk, I’m like: ‘F***, I don’t know. Maybe people loved it. I might be in the minority.”
Roddick believes the request was somewhat degrading and it’s not the first time it has happened to a WTA Tour star at a Grand Slam this season.
“There was one, I’ll get it wrong. It was at the Aussie Open. It wasn’t Courier because he would never, but it was they were like, “Can they ask some female like can you can you twirl for us?” I’m like, ‘What the f*** are we doing?” Like, ‘What are we doing?’
“I don’t know. maybe some people like it. I could be wrong. I’m fully open to that being a possibility.”
Sabalenka ended up doing the ‘Moonwalk’ on Philippe-Chatrier, but Roddick believes Sabalenka could have been criticised no matter what she responded with.
“And when it’s like dance for us, I’m like, but to your to your point, if Sabalenka’s like, ‘No, thank you.’ Then everyone’s like, ‘But you can’t play along.’ Like, ‘That’s no fun.’ Like, it’s a lose-lose situation.”
By defeating Osaka, Sabalenka set up a quarter-final match with Diana Schnaider at Roland Garros, which is set to be a first-time-ever meeting.
The World No. 1 is the overwhelming favourite to win Roland Garros now, with several of the top 10 already fallen in Paris.
Sabalenka’s most likely route to the title now is Schnaider in the quarter-finals, Anna Kalinskaya in the semi-finals, and Mirra Andreeva in the final.
