World number one tennis player Aryna Sabalenka caught attention for more than just her athletic skills during Friday’s competition at Indian Wells, California, as she made her debut wearing a sparkling new engagement ring while defeating Japan’s Himeno Sakatsume 6-4, 6-2 in the second round.
The 27-year-old tennis champion wore the eye-catching oval-cut diamond ring for the first time during a match after becoming engaged to Georgios Frangulis on Tuesday evening.
“It feels super comfortable and shiny,” she told reporters.
“We double-checked if there was a possibility to lose the diamond, and there was none. I was pretty confident wearing it, hoping it might even distract my opponent.”
The tennis star, who has reached the championship match at this WTA 1000 tournament twice over the past three years, revealed that the proposal caught her completely off guard, though her entire support team knew about the planned engagement beforehand.
“I saw Georgios and I was crying half of the time, because I thought that I looked ugly, not prepared, and this is such a beautiful moment,” she said.
“I stopped everything, and I asked the videographer and the photographer to make sure that my face was not (in the pictures), just the ring, and side views and from the back, just so you guys wouldn’t be shocked by the way I looked.
“But it was a beautiful moment.”
When reporters inquired about what she and Frangulis, who serves as CEO of international health-food company OakBerry, have discovered about each other since beginning their relationship in 2024, Sabalenka responded with humor.
“What I have learned about him? He likes Oakberry a lot,” the four-time Grand Slam winner said. “What he has learned about me? That I’m crazy,” she added with a laugh.
