Show performance after victory
Tennis superstar delights audience with dance
June 2, 2026 – 9:09 a.mReading time: 2 minutes
After reaching the quarterfinals at the French Open, Aryna Sabalenka was in a great mood. There was an additional show for the audience.
World number one Aryna Sabalenka took the word “prime time” seriously: For the first time in three years, a women’s match was scheduled to be the highlight of the day in the night session at the French Open.
This was preceded by long discussions about the lack of women’s matches in the evening. The organizers justified their preference for men’s matches by saying that their own expensive tickets for the games are sold in the evening and that the men’s matches last longer due to the three winning sets (for the women there are only two). The paying customers would therefore be offered more for their money.
We need your consent to be included by our editorial team Instagram-View content. You can use this one (and all others as well). Instagram-Content on t-online.de) can be displayed and deactivated again with one click.
With the round of 16 encounter between the world number one Sabalenka and the four-time Grand Slam winner Naomi Osaka, there was probably enough star power to allow the match to take place in the evening.
A moonwalk at the end
In the end, the organizers’ fears came true: Sabalenka won 7:5 and 6:3 after less than an hour and a half. Maybe that’s why Sabalenka felt compelled to offer some additional entertainment after the match.
The 28-year-old likes to upload videos of herself dancing on social media. She now lived out this passion on the pitch during her winner’s interview. Sabalenka began dancing to the melody of Michael Jackson’s hit “Thriller.” He also showed some elements of the choreography from the song’s famous music video and finally tried out the “Moonwalk”, probably Michael Jackson’s most famous dance step. The audience was enthusiastic, applauded the dance performance loudly and some even danced along. It remains to be seen whether that will be enough for the organizers to schedule another Sabalenka match in the night session.