Aryna Sabalenka brings back Australian Open-winning ritual at French Open as well in hunt for maiden title at Roland Garros

Aryna Sabalenka has brought back a Slam-winning tradition at the 2024 French Open. She signed her coach's head before her first-round match against Erika Andreeva.

The Belarusian first signed the head of her performance coach Stacy before her first round at the 2024 Australian Open. She continued to sign his head before every match. The superstition yielded great results for the World No. 2 as she successfully defended her Australian Open title.

Sabalenka intends to continue this tradition in Paris in a bid to win her first title at the French Open. She signed Stacy's head before her first-round match against Erika Andreeva.

Stacy has embraced the 'sign tradition' and joked about it on his Instagram handle.

"It's that time once again," he wrote with the video of his signed head.

He struggled off this superstition being a source of misery for him, saying that it was a tradition.

"Tradition, not misery," Stacy said.

He assured the fans that this tradition will continue if it helps Sabalenka win big titles.

"Yep it's a thing now! and if it helps, it'll keep being a thing," he said.

Source- Jason Stacy's Instagram handle

After her fourth round against Amanda Anismova at the 2024 Australian Open, the Belarusian explained in a press conference how this tradition came into being. Sabalenka said that she signed Stacy's head before the first match and it became a routine. She said that the performance coach was not happy about it but agreed to do it for the win.

"I don't know. Somehow I decided to start drawing my signature on his head (smiling). I did it before the first match. Now it's a routine. Every time he's not super happy that I'm going to do that. He's like, Okay, anything for the win. I'm like, Thank you," Sabalenka said in the press conference.

Aryna Sabalenka: "We will just keep the traditions going"

Aryna Sabalenka at the 2022 WTA Finals

Aryna Sabalenka said in the press conference after her first match at the 2024 French Open that she and her team intend to continue the tradition of signing her coach's head. She hoped that the tradition would work as it did during the 2024 Australian Open.

"We will just keep the traditions going, you know like I did sign his head today. I mean, let's see if it's working or not. Hopefully, it will. That’s the key. But we are going to keep the tradition," Sabalenka said at the press conference after her first-round win.

Aryna Sabalenka will now face qualifier Moyuka Uchijima in the second round at the French Open. This is the first meeting between the two.