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Aryna Sabalenka recently ran into famous sports media personality David Portnoy while attending the grand opening of Casadonna, a new Italian waterfront restaurant in Miami. Their interaction, however, has been slammed by a large group of fans, owing to the latter's reported harassment of women.
The American blogger, who founded Barstool Sports, first came into the limelight in September, when he was invited by the World No. 1 to watch her championship match-outing against Coco Gauff at the 2023 US Open. Portnoy was admittedly a big fan of the Belarusian well before her Flushing Meadows campaign.
The tennis community on social media, however, disapproves of Portnoy's fanfare for Aryna Sabalenka for a variety of reasons. According to a report by Business Insider, multiple women have claimed that he subjected them to “violent and humiliating” sex.
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The Barstool owner also made the following comments on one of his blog posts recently:
"I never condone rape, but if you're a size six and you're wearing skinny jeans, you kind of deserve to be raped."
In that context, tennis fans were annoyed at seeing him pose with Aryna Sabalenka on Friday (October 20) in Miami. One fan even suggested that it was the Belarusian's responsibility to avoid giving someone as problematic as Portnoy a platform in the sports community.
"I think Aryna knows who he is and what he became famous for, because this is not their first interaction. That makes THIS way worse. @SabalenkaA, as the flagbearer of women’s tennis right now, please do better," the fan wrote.
Another fan, meanwhile, called the American businessman a "notoriously unsavory weirdo".
"Big pi**ed head on him and a crotch stain. He’s a notoriously unsavory weirdo," they wrote.
Here are a few more reactions from tennis fans:
Aryna Sabalenka is enjoying a career-best season in 2023
Aryna Sabalenka has been arguably the best player on the WTA tour in 2023. The 25-year-old won her maiden Major title at the Australian Open and finished as the runner-up at the US Open.
Apart from her Melbourne triumph, the Belarusian has won two more titles this year — the WTA 1000 tournament in Madrid and the 500-level event in Adelaide. She also finished as the runner-up in the US Open, Stuttgart and Indian Wells.
Sabalenka has exited a tour-level event before the quarterfinals only thrice this season, at the 2023 Canadian Open, the 2023 Italian Open, and the WTA 500 tournament in Berlin. By her consistency, the Belarusian is currently the top-ranked female player, with a tally of 9,381 ranking points.
The World No. 1's last tournament campaign came at the recently concluded China Open, where she lost to fifth-seeded Elena Rybakina in the last eight in straight sets, 5-7, 2-6.
