Aryna Sabalenka jokingly threatened to get her coaches tattooed if she won the Australian Open again (Image: Eurosport)
jokingly threatened to “put something” in her team’s drinks and “put them asleep” as she shared her celebratory plans at the .
The world No. 1 is looking to pull off the three-peat at Melbourne Park after lifting the trophy in 2023 and 2024, and she moved one step closer after reaching the semi-final.
Afterwards, Sabalenka revealed that she wanted her coaches to get a tattoo and had an unusual plan to get the job done. But she quickly backtracked and told the fans she was kidding.
The 26-year-old had her work cut out for her against Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova on Tuesday night as she dropped a set at Melbourne Park for the first time since the 2023 final.
Sabalenka survived the scare to win 6-2 2-6 6-3 and inched closer to winning her third Aussie Open title on the trot.
Now just two matches away from a hattrick of trophies, the top seed was asked whether her team could do something special to mark the occasion if she pulled it off.
The world No. 1 already seems to have had a plan up her sleeve for a while, as she admitted she was inspired by Elena Rybakina when she won in 2022. “After Elena Rybakina’s coach got a tattoo after her win in , you know what I told my team?” Sabalenka started.
Aryna Sabalenka is through to the Australian Open semi-final (Image: Getty)
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“I’m like, ‘You see guys, this is the true love, you know?’ And now they’ve just run away, you cannot see them! We’re going to talk about that.”
Sabalenka already has a tattoo of her own, a tiger on her forearm. It’s become her trademark – she is often referred to as the ‘tiger’ and Nike has started adding tiger details to her custom outfits.
Her fitness coach, Jason Stacy, has previously worn temporary tattoos of a big cat on his bald head. But she wants them to go one better and get some permanent ink.
Sharing her daring plans, the Belarusian added: “If I win it, you never know, fingers crossed, and we gonna celebrate, I’m going to put something in their drinks so I will put them asleep and I’m going to call a tattoo specialist so they’re going to wake up with a tiger tattoo, how about that?”
Sabalenka barely took a breath before clarifying that she was just joking. “I’m kidding, just kidding, no,” she laughed.
Jelena Dokic, who was interviewing Sabalenka on the court, replied: “That’s a no and we’ll leave it there!”
The 26-year-old will have to get past one of her closest friends if she wants to reach the championship match and give herself a chance at the Aussie Open hattrick.
Sabalenka faces , who is through to the last four at a Grand Slam tournament for the first time. The world No. 1 told the Rod Laver Arena crowd that she “cannot wait” for their battle. Sabalenka leads their head-to-head 5-2.