As the players took a break, Sabalenka reached for a drink, prompting the umpire to call for tape over her walkie-talkie. It soon became clear that the tape was intended to cover the label on Sabalenka’s San Pellegrino bottle.
The umpire then asked Sabalenka to address the issue with the label. However, Sabalenka initially didn’t hear the request, asking, “Say it again?”.
“Aryna can I just ask you to take [the label] off that bottle? Perfect, thank you, we’re good, that’s fine,” the official responded. Sabalenka complied, removing the paper and continuing to drink from the clear green bottle.
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Sky Sports commentator Jonathan Overend drew parallels between this unusual request and the earlier incident involving Alcaraz and his match against Luca Nardi.
He exclaimed: “Oh, it’s the same thing that happened in the Alcaraz match! Can’t have unofficial water. Bizarre situation when Alcaraz was asked to do it, now Sabalenka has been asked to do it.”
World No. 2 Alcaraz became frustrated when the umpire informed him he couldn’t use his Evian drinks bottles during changeovers because it was a rival brand.
“It’s what we’ve been told,” Allensworth said when passing on the instructions to Alcaraz.