"Aryna Sabalenka's trying so hard, it's painful" - Fans criticize Belarusian's 'awkward' interview with Jimmy Fallon ahead of 'Battle of the Sexes'

Aryna Sabalenka recently sat down for an interview with Jimmy Fallon on The Tonight Show. Here, the reigning World No. 1 in women's singles tennis discussed a variety of subjects, including her upcoming 'Battle of the Sexes' clash against Nick Kyrgios. However, the Belarusian's take on the match during the interview didn't go down too well with several tennis fans.

Speaking about the latest instalment of the 'Battle of the Sexes', which is set to take place in the last week of December, Sabalenka delivered a positive take on the hype building up around the unique exhibition match. She also promised to "kick Kyrgios' a**".

"I like to challenge myself, and playing against a male athlete — against Nick — it’s a big challenge and I like it. The visibility it got already is incredible. We’re kind of bringing tennis to the next level… It’s going to be a great high-level match for sure. I’m going to kick his a**. That’s a hundred percent," Aryna Sabalenka told Fallon.

Quite a few tennis fans on Reddit subsequently turned critical of Aryna Sabalenka with regards to what she had to say about the 'Battle of the Sexes' on The Tonight Show. One fan targeted Nick Kyrgios as well.

"I'm getting downvoted but... she's trying so hard it's painful to watch her interviews," one fan wrote. "Why does it feel so awkward," added another. "Downvoted why? I like her tennis, not her personality. Sometimes she comes across genuinely funny but often I just think she's just cringy (tiktok). Her boyfriend seems into MAGA stuff, follows Trump, Kirk and some accounts that make fun of lgbt, feminism etc," commented another in response to the previous fan. "I saw another one today that she and Kyrgios did with the BBC, and I couldn’t even finish it once she started talking about how the exhibition is supposedly going to help “bring women’s tennis to a higher level.”," another fan chimed in. "Why is there so much press for an exho? I know it’s for the shock value of it all but Kyrgios is nowhere famous enough to warrant all of this," opined one. "Never see them promoting anything else in tennis to this extent though," weighed in yet another fan.

"A dog whistle, a publicity stunt" - Tennis insider's brutal assessment of Aryna Sabalenka & Nick Kyrgios' 'Battle of the Sexes'

Aryna Sabalenka at the 2025 WTA Finals (Source: Getty)

The Tennis Podcast's Catherine Whitaker was unforgiving in her assessment of the upcoming 'Battle of the Sexes' featuring Aryna Sabalenka and Nick Kyrgios. In a recent episode of the popular podcast, she was particularly critical of Kyrgios' participation in the exhibition match. Bringing up the Australian's past controversies surrounding women, Whitaker said:

"He's choosing to stand for and represent misogyny that is his brand. This is what Nick Kyrgios will be representing and fighting for in the self-titled Battle of the Sexes."

She later added:

"This event, it feels like a dog whistle, a publicity stunt, a symptom of the populist Trumpian age of dog whistles and division and, and stupidity."

The 'Battle of the Sexes' is scheduled for play at Dubai's Coca-Cola Arena on Sunday, December 28.

Edited by Sudipto Pati