In a hilarious gaffe during live television, World No. 1 women’s tennis player and US Open women’s singles winner Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus mistakenly referred to the new World No. 1 men’s singles player, Spain’s Carlos Alcaraz, by his arch-rival’s name, Jannik Sinner. This left everyone present in stitches as Sabalenka called Alcaraz “Jannik”.
The incident occurred on NBC’s Today in America, where she was showing off her US Open trophy alongside men’s champion Alcaraz. During an interview celebrating their respective triumphs, Sabalenka was explaining a video trend on the social media app TikTok when she had the slip-up.
“I have a TikTok to do with Jannik… Ah, Jannik,” she said, before realising her harmless mistake. Embarrassed by her words, Sabalenka quickly covered her mouth before reaching for Alcaraz.
“Carlos. Carlos, I’m so sorry. OK, never mind, no TikTok is coming,” she said before bursting out in laughter.
The US Open men’s singles winner, Alcaraz, saw the funny side of the situation and took things lightly. “It’s 9am in the morning, don’t worry, OK,” said Alcaraz.
“It’s all good,” he laughed it off.