Tennis’ couple Stefanos Tsitsipas-Paula Badosa’s love story – Times of India

PARIS: There may be more tennis-player couples in the Roland Garros singles draws than there are types of croissants in a Parisian bakery.

Almond to Dulce de Leche. Buttery, flaky and soft.

Stefanos Tsitsipas, the long-haired, ninth seed from Greece, and his romantic partner Paula Badosa of Spain, are celebrating their one-year mark as a couple by playing the mixed-doubles event here in the city of love.

Tsitsipas and Badosa made strong statements in the singles too.

Tsitsipas, 25, advanced into the third round with a 6-3, 6-2, 6-7 (2), 6-4 win over Daniel Altmaier on a rain-marred Wednesday.

Badosa, who has ranked a career-high No.2 in the world two years ago, perhaps provided the inspiration, having come through a late-evening thriller on Tuesday, against the 26th seed Katie Boulter.

Boulter, the Briton, was cheered on by her boyfriend Alex de Minaur, the world No.11, who was at courtside close to mid-night after having completed his own first-round match earlier in the day.

Tsitsipas, who was playing first on Wednesday, wasn’t onsite for Badosa’s match. He called it understanding.

“We both share the same passion, we do the same thing in life,” Tsitsipas said. “I feel like it’s a benefit.”

Tsitsipas and Badosa, who split briefly earlier in the month, reunited again in Paris.

“To have a person by your side, who you love and with whom you can talk tennis, is a breath of fresh air,” he said.

“We talk a lot about tennis. Our primary goal is to help each other and figure things out,” he said. “I feel like we’re equally knowledgeable about our craft and have an understanding of how certain situations should be dealt with.’

“We talk about equipment. We talk about things that we can improve,” he said. “Paula keeps saying that she wishes she had my forehand. I tell her, I’m sorry, but that’s not possible, so you have to find ways around it. Sometimes, I also think, oh, gosh, I wish I had her return. She destroys the ball on the returns, and it seems so effortless from her side.”

“We also have times when we disconnect from tennis and focus on our other hobbies,” the Greek said. “It’s a great relationship, we understand each other’s lives, we also know the struggles.”

The talking point of the ATP-WTA Couples episode this fortnight, is the 22-year-old Sinner and Russian Anna Kalinskaya.

The world No.2 confirmed he was dating ‘Anna’ following his first-round win.

The Muscovite was at courtside when Sinner played his first-round match on Monday and later in the day, Sinner cheered Kalinskaya.

The Russian world No.25 has enjoyed a breakthrough season in 2024, having started the year at No.80.

She made the quarterfinals of the Australian Open and the final at the Dubai Duty Free tennis. Her father Nikolay was the national badminton coach. The 25-year-old’s brother Nikolay Kalinsky is a Russian premier league footballer.

Joining ‘TsitsiDosa’ in the mixed-doubles draw is the Czech couple of Tomas Machac and Katerina Siniakova.