Aryna Sabalenka said she would continue to sign the bald head of her fitness trainer with a marker pen before matches as the bizarre ritual she began on a whim before her successful Australian Open defence continued to bring luck at the French Open on Saturday.
Sabalenka marched into the fourth of Roland Garros with a 7-5 6-1 win over Paula Badosa and is now unbeaten in 10 matches at the majors, with television cameras invariably focusing on the shiny head of Jason Stacy each time, looking for her signature.
“It started from the beginning of the Australian Open. We all stand around. Me and Jason in the middle and I sign his head with, I don’t know, classical music playing in the back. Oh no, no,” Sabalenka said, struggling to hold back laughter.
“I don’t know. It somehow started as — I don’t want to swear right now because I’m trying to be better with my words — but we like to do weird stuff. And then I won the tournament and I was like, ‘Jason we got to keep tradition going’.
“I wanted to do it in every tournament, every match, but he was just like ‘okay, let’s just at least pick this tradition for the Grand Slams’ and so far we are doing it.”
While her pre-match routine has remained constant, Sabalenka has mixed up her game on court, adding variations in the form of slices and drops to complement her power.
She put it to full use again facing her best friend Badosa in a 77-minute win.
“I feel comfortable doing all those drop shots. I definitely have a good touch to go for drop shots. Even if it wouldn’t be a gameplan, on the court if I see that this is the time to go for it, I’m going to go for it,” said Sabalenka.Maybe not that much. Usually, I go on court and I have a gameplan. If I need to adjust, I will.”
Meanwhile, French fans performed a loud rendition of the national anthem “La Marseillaise” for Varvara Gracheva after the Russian-born player beat Romania’s Irina-Camelia Begu as a local since switching nationality last year.
Gracheva closed out a hard-fought 7-5 6-3 victory and joined in the singing as she celebrated being the last Frenchwoman left in the women’s draw.
“I will remember this moment until the end of my life,” said Gracheva, who received her French passport in 2023 after living in the country for more than five years. “It means that everyone accepts me, that I’m home here.”
Fourth seed Elena Rybakina reached the fourth round with a 6-4 6-2 win over Belgian 25th seed Elise Mertens on Court Philippe Chatrier, despite losing serve twice in the opening set.
It is the first time the Kazakh has reached the fourth round since 2021.
On the men’s draw Canadian 21st seed Felix Auger-Aliassime won his rain-delayed third-round match with American 15th seed Ben Shelton 6-4 6-2 6-1.
Auger-Aliassime continued where he left off on Friday when he led 5-4 in the first set before rain stopped play, and will face Spanish third seed Carlos Alcaraz in the last 16.