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NEW YORK — In the late afternoon sunshine Friday, spectators were forced to stand in the bleachers of a packed Court 11 at the Billie Jean King National Tennis Centre. Outside, more queued to get in. Ben Shelton and Frances Tiafoe, two superstars of American tennis, were busy slugging it out on Arthur Ashe Stadium, but a first-round, mixed-doubles match on the outside courts was the hottest ticket at the U.S. Open.
This is the pull of Paula Badosa and Stefanos Tsitsipas, more familiarly known as “Tsitsidosa.”
Badosa and Tsitsipas, both 26, are the most talked-about couple in tennis. Like any celebrity couple, there are TikToks. There are fan cams. There are hashtags. Unlike nearly any celebrity couple, there are Grand Slam tennis tournaments to play in together.
In their first ever competitive match, they ended up losing, 7-6(3), 6-4 to Mexican pair Giuliana Olmos and Santiago Gonzalez.
Then, on Sunday, Badosa, who is the No. 26 seed in the women’s singles, beat Wang Yafan of China 6-1, 6-2 to reach the quarterfinals of a Grand Slam tournament for the first time since 2021. She had never been past the second round in New York before.
Tsitsipas, the men’s No. 11 seed here, sat and watched. He had lost to Thanasi Kokkinakis, the Australian, on day one.
A few weeks ago, the 2024 Olympics in Paris were abuzz with are they/aren’t they speculation around mixed doubles gold medallists Katerina Siniakova and Tomas Machac. Siniakova announced the couple’s split on social media before the Games, but they seemed pretty close when they won the final. Since then, they have been coy about their relationship status. Siniakova even told a press conference that “we like to make you a bit confused”.
A month earlier, Alex de Minaur sped across the Wimbledon grounds in the name of love.
As soon as he finished his second-round match against Jaume Munar on Court 3, he jumped on the exercise bike, downed a protein shake, showered, and then sprinted over to Court 1, to see his girlfriend Katie Boulter in action against her British compatriot Harriet Dart. After being directed to the wrong entrance, he eventually found his seat — to endure the agony of watching Boulter lose a final set tiebreak.
It’s been another summer of love in tennis.
World No. 1 Jannik Sinner and world No. 15 Anna Kalinskaya recently started dating; there are married couples, including Elina Svitolina and Gael Monfils, who was in the stands watching his wife lose to Coco Gauff on Friday. There are likely many more under the radar.
These relationships are as different as the individuals involved; they are both relatable and difficult to imagine. Most people can envisage dating someone who does the same job or works for the same company. But most people’s jobs don’t involve travelling the world to play a very selfish sport in front of thousands of people, sometimes with — or even against — your partner.
Like every relationship, tennis romances have as many upsides as they do challenges. And wrapped up in all of them is that cursed question: What happens if you guys break up?
There have always been relationships in tennis.
Love is a key part of the tennis vernacular (even if it’s actually a derivative of the French “l’oeuf,” meaning egg). A scene from the 2012 film “Diary of a Wimpy Kid,” in which the main male character replies, “Whatever you say, love” to a girl just calling the score, has recently given this connection new life. It’s been used as a sound on TikTok, with real couples reenacting the video on real courts.
In the 1970s, the romance between American golden couple Chris Evert and Jimmy Connors became an obsession; 22-time Grand Slam ch…