{"id":520032,"date":"2026-03-12T23:22:12","date_gmt":"2026-03-12T23:22:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/520032\/"},"modified":"2026-03-12T23:22:12","modified_gmt":"2026-03-12T23:22:12","slug":"i-dont-think-thats-a-smart-decision","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/520032\/","title":{"rendered":"‘I don’t think that’s a smart decision’"},"content":{"rendered":"

Aryna Sabalenka believes Naomi Osaka made the wrong decision to change sports agencies, saying \u201cI just feel sorry for her\u201d.<\/p>\n

Former world No 1 Osaka launched the Evolve \u2013 the first female-athlete-led talent agency \u2013 with her former agent Stuart Dugui back in early 2022 and the company snapped up a host of big-name stars.<\/p>\n

Nick Kyrgios and Ons Jabeur were among the first tennis players to sign up with involve before they landed world No 1 Aryna Sabalenka in January 2025 with other WTA stars Iva Jovic, Eva Lys and Anna Kalinskaya also joining.<\/p>\n

But caught everyone by surprise last December when she announced that she would part ways with Evolve after just three years, announcing on social media<\/a>: \u201cWriting this to say starting in the new year I\u2019ll be parting ways with Evolve.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been a great run and I\u2019m so grateful for all the memories we shared.\u201d<\/p>\n

In January, it was confirmed that the four-time Grand Slam winner returned to IMG Tennis, the tennis division of WME, the company that represented her from 2016 until December 2021 with her close friend and long-time manager, Alex Boston, also moving back.<\/p>\n

Despite Osaka\u2019s departure, Evolve has made a lot of headlines in teh past year as they organised the high-profile Battle of the Sexes clash between Sabalenka and Kyrgios in December.<\/p>\n

WTA News<\/p>\n

Naomi Osaka reveals how Aryna Sabalenka\u2019s grunting \u2018tricked\u2019 her in Indian Wells Open loss<\/a><\/p>\n

Indian Wells: Naomi Osaka explains \u2018look good, feel good\u2019 approach after latest eye-catching outfit<\/a><\/p>\n

Sabalenka has also become one of the highest-paid female sports stars in the world as, according to Forbes, she made $30m during the 2025 season with $15m coming from off-court endorsements.<\/p>\n

After the two Grand Slam winners squared off in the fourth round of the Indian Wells Open, Sabalenka was asked if it is difficult facing a player who used to be part of the same agency.<\/p>\n

She replied: \u201cNot at all. I just feel sorry for her that she moved from Evolve back to IMG. I don\u2019t think that\u2019s a smart decision to do.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m happy, I\u2019m super happy that now all time that they were kind of like, how you say, balancing between me and the Naomi, now I got most of the time. I\u2019m happy with that (smiling).\u201d<\/p>\n

Osaka was told about Sabalenak\u2019s comments and she had the following to say.<\/p>\n

\u201cWas she laughing when she said it (smiling)?\u201d the Japanese star started off.<\/p>\n

\u201cLook, we\u2019re two different people, like, for sure. I think her experiences aren\u2019t the same as mine, and I wouldn\u2019t have it any other way, you know.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor me, I have always loved IMG. I have been treated really well there, and the people there are really kind to me. I would recommend to IMG to people. I guess she wouldn\u2019t.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut, yeah, I think we just have two very different experiences at two different places.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sabalenka won in straight sets in what was only their second career meeting following Osaka\u2019s three-set victory at the 2018 US Open.<\/p>\n

The Belarusian was asked if she was feeling pressure ahead of the match, given that her rival is a former world No 1 and a four-time major champion.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think about this kind of stuff going to the match,\u201d she said. \u201cI just focus on myself, focus on the game plan that I have, and this is what I learn with experience that you better leave this stuff outside of the tennis court, and you go out there and you do your best. That\u2019s what I\u2019m focusing on.<\/p>\n

She added: \u201cI feel like I started doing better when she got pregnant. I think that\u2019s why we didn\u2019t have much opportunities to face each other, and I feel like, pretty sure that we\u2019re gonna face each other many more times.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Aryna Sabalenka believes Naomi Osaka made the wrong decision to change sports agencies, saying \u201cI just feel sorry…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":520033,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[72],"tags":[99,428],"class_list":["post-520032","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tennis","tag-sports","tag-tennis"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/520032","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=520032"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/520032\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/520033"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=520032"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=520032"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=520032"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}