As we all know, happiness is even more beautiful when there is someone to share it with. That’s why Elina Switolina and Gael Monfils are celebrating what they experienced at this Australian Open. They defeated their fourth-seeded rivals in the third round of their singles competition, one after the other on the same playing field at Margaret Court Arena. “I heated up the stadium well for her,” said Monfils after the win against the American Taylor Fritz, and he asked the reporters to hurry up with the questions: He wanted to go back to the pitch that he had heated up beforehand had to cheer on the wife. Svitolina sent Italian Jasmine Paolini home 6-0 in the third set. Later, the couple could be seen romping around the facility with their daughter Skai – with other participants’ children, by the way; There are many at the tennis tournament in Melbourne.
It is one of the most interesting observations at this Australian Open: Never before have so many professional couples played in the second week of a Grand Slam tournament as in Melbourne. After beating Coco Gauff, Spaniard Paula Badosa is now in the semi-finals on Thursday (9 a.m. CET) against defending champion Aryna Sabalenka. Her partner Stefanos Tsitsipas did not leave after his first round defeat, but instead watched Badosa’s games in the stands. They delivered a wonderful moment of communication that every couple can probably identify with: Tsitsipas gestured that Badosa should play the balls higher and with more spin, which she responded to with an angry expression. Tsitsipas then smiled and did something that a man should never do – and that has never worked in the history of humanity: he asked his partner to please calm down. Badosa ent-calmed down even more; Tsitsipas reacted perfectly: Shut up and give encouraging applause instead. The reaction on social networks: Oh, we would all like to be like that!
Life on the tennis tour can sometimes be very lonely, as professionals sometimes report. The reason, of course, is that everyone who could be friends are competitors. Many tennis players are therefore considered terrible egomaniacs. Serena Williams, the best in history, once described what it was like: “On the court you have to hate your opponents. I even hate my sister Venus when I play against her.”
For the heterosexual professionals there is the opportunity to find companions on the other side of the gender table for the constant journey around the world; many tournaments take place at the same time in the same place. A same-sex partnership, if the draw was unfavorable, would probably lead to at least as much internal conflict as a friendship. Happiness becomes greater when shared, the pain after defeat is halved. When Monfils, 38 years old, had to give up against Ben Shelton in the round of 16 because his body refused to work after almost three hours of playing in the heat, Switolina immediately hugged him; After Switolina’s quarterfinal defeat against Madison Keys, Monfils was immediately there for her in the catacombs. Later they both said how great it had been for them in Melbourne.
It only becomes problematic when one partner experiences happiness and the other experiences pain. Defending champion Jannik Sinner has played his way confidently through the table so far; His partner Anna Kalinskaja, who many had predicted would have a brilliant season, withdrew before the first round – which opened the door for the Germans to have a happy run Lucky loser Eva Lys to the round of 16. Sinner defeated Australian Alex de Minaur (6:3, 6:2, 6:1) in the quarterfinals on Wednesday evening, whose British partner Katie Boulter was eliminated in round two. Of course, perspective always matters in life: before and after the game, Boulter and de Minaur met in the catacombs for a warm embrace. They have been engaged since December 23, and de Minaur said before the quarter-final that he couldn’t be happier both on and off the pitch – because he has someone to share his happiness with.
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