Paula Badosa says she still loves Aryna Sabalenka despite falling just short against her best friend in the Stuttgart quarterfinal. On Friday, Badosa was up by a set and a break before Sabalenka stunningly recovered 4-6 6-4 6-4.
After two very dominant Stuttgart wins, Badosa was hoping to also beat Sabalenka and potentially win her first title of the year in Stuttgart. “I still love [email protected]_aryna,” Badosa captioned her Instagram Story. Sabalenka responded: “I love u too.”
Paula Badosa to Aryna Sabalenka after she lost to Aryna in Stuttgart
No hard feelings.
More friendships like this, please ð«¶ð¥° pic.twitter.com/NjJGG2FCNi — The Tennis Letter (@TheTennisLetter) April 22, 2023
Badosa missed out on a good chance to beat Sabalenka
Badosa appeared to be cruising toward her biggest win of the season as the Spaniard had a 6-4 4-2 lead against Sabalenka.
But then, Sabalenka made a stunning comeback. “I was just talking to myself and saying, OK, just try one more time, just try to put the ball back, and then run and move and try to win this game and probably you can win this set.
Then who knows what’s gonna happen in the third set? Definitely that game was the key game,” Sabalenka said. During her comeback, there were times when Sabalenka wanted to scream…
