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Aryna Sabalenka recently shared a picture of herself sporting a cap that featured an emphatic declaration about women's sports. However, several tennis fans later questioned the Belarusian about the declaration by bringing up a controversial past admission made by her on women's tennis.In a recent Instagram Story, the reigning women's singles World No. 1 showed off a cap featuring the following declaration in favor of women's sports:"Everyone watches women's sports."Many tennis fans on X (formerly Twitter) reacted by remembering how Aryna Sabalenka, in the buildup to her campaign at the 2024 Madrid Open, laid bare her preference for watching men's tennis over women's tennis."It just shows she is not sincere at all," one fan wrote."What the rebranding is going awn…Wasn’t she the one who basically said ppl don’t watch women’s tennis?!," commented another."Didn't she say last year, that she doesn't like women's tennis? And then there was a whole debate about it on TT (Tennis Twitter)?," another fan chimed in."Actually she doesn’t (watch women's sports)," one added."It would be nice if Sabalenka (and almost every other women’s tennis player) would actually watch women’s sport, particularly the one they play. Every other interview has them waxing lyrically about men’s tennis, no one bar Barbie will let themselves be seen watching their sport," opined another."Do we though?," weighed in yet another fan."Didn't want to disparage women's tennis" - Aryna Sabalenka clarified her stance after raising eyebrows with men's tennis preferenceAryna Sabalenka during a press conference at the 2024 Madrid Open (Source: Getty)In the aftermath of registering a hard-fought, three-set victory against Magda Linette in her opening match at last year's Madrid Open, Aryna Sabalenka issued a clarification about her earlier comments on her preference for men's tennis, which stirred controversy. The Belarusian suggested that she doesn't like to watch women's tennis because she has to compete against the same players herself."I didn’t want to disparage women’s tennis, no. Listen, I mean, we are doing our best and, great, there are lots of great matches. don’t like to watch it just because I play against all of them and I just want to kind of like change the picture," Sabalenka said during a post-match press conference."I just find it more fun to watch the men play because I spend a lot of time studying my opponents, so then in my free time I don’t want to see the girls I play against again," she added later.Aryna Sabalenka is currently preparing for her 2025 WTA Finals campaign. The World No. 1 is set to get her campaign at the prestigious year-end event underway with a group phase clash against Jasmine Paolini.
