Playing Aryna Sabalenka will be ‘uncomfortable experience’ after death of boyfriend, says Paula Badosa

Playing Aryna Sabalenka on Thursday will be an “uncomfortable” experience, the Spanish star Paula Badosa has said, as Sabalenka continues to press ahead with her tennis commitments despite the tragic death of her boyfriend.

Sabalenka’s boyfriend Konstantin Koltsov passed away some time on Sunday night in what the Miami-Dade police department called an “apparent suicide”. A police statement said that officers had been called to a luxury Miami Beach resort soon after midnight “in reference to a male that jumped from a balcony”.

Yet Sabalenka has not withdrawn from the Miami Open, and it so happens that her opening match will bring her up against Badosa, her closest friend in the locker room.

“Yesterday I spoke with her a lot of time,” Badosa said on Tuesday, after coming back to defeat Simona Halep – another player who has been in the headlines this week after returning from a doping ban – in three sets.

“This morning the same,” Badosa added. “So I know what she’s going through. I know the entire situation, what is happening.

“That for me is a little bit shocking also to go through that because at the end she’s my best friend and I don’t want her to suffer. It’s a very tough situation.

“At the same point playing against her, it’s also uncomfortable. Yeah, but I don’t really want to talk about it because I said I’m not going to talk about it. She’s my best friend and I promised that. I’m going to stay like this. Sorry.”

Koltsov – who was 42 – and Sabalenka had been in a relationship since the summer of 2021, judging by their interviews and social-media posts. He was a former ice-hockey international who had represented Belarus twice at the Olympics and also played for the Pittsburgh Penguins in the American National Hockey League.

Koltsov had been at courtside when Sabalenka – who is the world No2 – won her second grand-slam title in Melbourne in January. In one Instagram post, she described him as “my dearest person, my best friend and my strongest support”. His death is the latest cruel bereavement for a woman who lost her father Sergey in 2019 to meningitis, aged only 43.

Another player who expressed their sympathy on Tuesday was the former world No 1 Caroline Wozniacki. “I can’t even imagine what she’s going through right now,” said Wozniacki of Sabalenka. “I’m saying that. I’m also tearing up. It’s such a terrible situation.

“I love Aryna,” Wozniacki added. “I think she’s such a great person. She’s always so happy and out there. To see her go through that, it’s heartbreaking. Everybody grieves in a different way. She was walking past today. I was giving her her space. I let her know that if she ever needs anything, I’m here, we’re here for her.”

In the same press conference, Wozniacki also suggested that players who have failed doping tests – as Halep did at the 2022 US Open – should not be granted wild-card invitations to tour events when they don’t have enough ranking points for direct entry.

Halep – whose four-year ban was recently downgraded by the Court of Arbitration for Sport on the grounds that she inadvertently took a contaminated supplement – replied by saying “I didn’t do anything wrong.”

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