By Alberto Amalfi | @Tennis_Now | Wednesday, August 28, 2024
Photograph credit score: ESPN
NEW YORK—Some gamers have loyal fan followings.
Aryna Sabalenka conjures up impressionists.
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Two-time Australian Open champion Sabalenka got here face-to-face along with her Mini Me in Louis Armstrong Stadium immediately.
Within the aftermath of her 6-3, 6-1 US Open second-round sweep of Lucia Bronzetti, the second-seeded Sabalenka noticed her mini doppelganger within the crowd and pulled her shut for a photograph.
The little lady was sporting the identical purple Nike outfit and holding a toy Tiger in tribute to Sabalenka’s well-known Tiger tattoo on her forearm.
Cease what you are doing, we now have the second of the match from @SabalenkaA 😍🤗 pic.twitter.com/kH16B0EZyc
— US Open Tennis (@usopen) August 28, 2024
The 2023 US Open finalist mentioned she noticed the younger fan on the massive display—setting the stage for the lovable assembly.
“It was actually lovely second. I simply appeared up, and I noticed on the massive display, like, mini me,” Sabalenka mentioned afterward. “It was so cute (laughing).
“It is such a motivation to maintain going to encourage the younger technology. That is the primary objective. Yeah, that was very lovely second.”
The previous world No. 1 mentioned it is the primary time a fan has gone full Sabalenka at one in every of her matches.
“The primary time I see somebody, like, dressing — costume up the identical as me and having little tattoo and little tiger,” mentioned Sabalenka, who will play Twenty ninth-seeded Ekaterina Alexandrova in spherical three. “How cute is that?”
