Stefanos Tsitsipas found himself in the spotlight after a tense moment during Paula Badosa’s mid-match outburst at the Australian Open. The ATP No. 12 had been eliminated in the first round, but his girlfriend Badosa was still competing, facing a challenging third-round match against Marta Kostyuk.
During the match, Badosa struggled with windy conditions and vented her frustrations toward her team. Tsitsipas, seated among her coaches, tried to offer some calming words, but his response drew criticism from commentator Chanda Rubin, who said, “That’s the last thing you want to tell a woman.”
Badosa had taken the first set 6-4 but found herself trailing 0-5 in the second. Frustration boiled over during a changeover as she gestured toward her box, complaining about the wind and even sarcastically offering her racket to her team so they could play in her place.
Tsitsipas attempted to calm her down, but Rubin commented on the interaction, saying, “Telling her to calm down? Excuse me? She’s asking him, ‘Do you want to play today?’”
Despite her outburst, Badosa found her rhythm, winning four consecutive games. However, she couldn’t recover fully, losing the set 6-4. She eventually secured the victory, defeating Kostyuk 6-4, 4-6, 6-3, advancing to the second week of the tournament.
After the match, Badosa clarified that her frustration was directed at her coach, not Tsitsipas. “First of all, it wasn’t with Stefanos. It was with my coach,” she laughed, brushing off the incident
