Tennis great Maria Sharapova has slammed a major newspaper for what she called a "ridiculous" headline about current women's No.1 player Aryna Sabalenka.
Aryna Sabalenka, who has three Grand Slams to her name, is vying to win Wimbledon for the first time and reached the semi-finals after defeating Laura Siegemund on centre court.
The two-time Australian Open winner was absent from last year's competition and reached the semi-finals in her last appearance in 2023.
This time around the Belarusian has also knocked off Carson Branstine, Marie Bouzkova, Brit Emma Raducanu and Elise Mertens, her former Doubles partner who she won two titles with.
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Sabalenka has developed into one of the very best and most consistent tennis players in the world right now and was the recent subject of a Wall Street Journal article which focused on her incredible dedication to the sport.
The piece revealed that Sabalenka, standing at 6ft and with incredible power in her locker, had practiced with 24-time Grand Slam winner Novak Djokovic and current men's world No.1 Jannik Sinner as she "needed practice partners who could handle her powerful groundstrokes".
However, the feature was published with the headline, 'The World No. 1 Who Hits So Hard She Practices Against Men' and that irked Sharapova, who took to Instagram to vent.
She wrote: "What is this headline and what is this article? You can do better @WSJ".
In the piece, Sabalenka discussed playing with Sinner and Djokovic in practice sessions since arriving Wimbledon and how it has improved her overall game.
She has adopted the same approach as Serena Williams, the legendary 23-time Grand Slam winner, did at the end of her incredible career when she trained with a number of top-100 men competitors.
The report said Sabalenka left the elite pair "elated, exhausted and full of valuable insights into her own cannonball groundstrokes".
“Hitting with the guys, it’s another level of intensity,” Sabalenka explained.
“When you see, on that side, someone like Jannik or Novak, you learn from them. You reflect what they do on court.
“You play with them…and you see the difference. It’s really helped my tennis.”
Nobody has won more Grand Slams in tennis than Djokovic, who is still going strong at the age of 38 and preparing for a quarter-final with Flavio Cobolli on Wednesday.
His advice and guidance, particularly on mental aspects of tennis, has been invaluable for Sabalenka.
"Definitely talking a lot to Novak, like, he definitely has a lot of knowledge of the game," she added.
"It's really helped me a lot several times. I mean, basically whenever I talk to him, it's really helping me. It's a lot of things. One of the conversation went to like managing energy. Another one about the mental part of the game."
Where to buy last-minute Wimbledon tickets
The Wimbledon ballot may have closed for another year, but it’s not too late to buy advance tickets if you know where to look.
If you don’t mind splashing out on the experience, Seat Unique has the option to book ‘VIP Debenture Behind The Server’ and ‘VIP Debenture Front 5 Rows’ tickets.
These tickets offer 'unparalleled views' of the court, so you won't miss out on any of the action.
As for resale tickets, you'll want to head over to StubHub and Viagogo.
Topics: Wimbledon
Josh Lawless