- Aryna Sabalenka is not a fan of the new courtside pods at the Australian Open
- The pods only seat four people, which is not even enough for all of her coaches
- The 26-year-old opted to have her crew in the traditional player box instead
Defending champion Aryna Sabalenka blasted her way past Sloane Stephens – before training her guns on the Australian Open’s big new innovation.
At this year’s tournament, coaches are allowed to sit directly courtside, just a few metres from the playing surface. These ‘pods’ are equipped with cooling fans and screens for statistical analysis. But only four seats are allocated and only tennis support staff can sit there – agents, friends and families must remain in the stands.
Sabalenka declined to use the new feature, preferring to have her whole crew together in the traditional player box.
‘Honestly, I’m not a big fan of the decision,’ said 26-year-old Belarusian. ‘Or if you do that, then make more seats. Me personally, I like to see the whole team. I want to see all the people in my box. For me that’s important.
‘Sometimes I just want to look at my boyfriend for the support, for example. I just didn’t want to have to look at the coach first, then look in the box. I have a lot of coaches. Four seats is not enough!
‘So we decided to put everyone in the box. Maybe they were kind of tight there and not comfortable, but I was comfortable to see all of them.’
Aryna Sabalenka criticised the Australian Open’s new four-seat courtside pods for coaches
Due to the pod’s limited capacity, the rest of Sabalenka’s entourage had to sit in the stands
The Belarusian still comfortably beat Sloane Stephens, in the first step to defending her title
Sabalenka was comfortable on the court, too, taking care of former US Open champion Stephens 6-3, 6-2 to extend her winning streak here in Melbourne to 15 matches.
The Australian Open is the most innovative of the Grand Slams and that is its strength, but tennis players are typically uncomfortable with change and it remains to be seen whether they take to pod life.
Communication between player and coach during matches was traditionally banned but those rules have been gradually relaxed in recent years, with the latest tranche of changes pretty much amounting to anything goes. From the start of 2025, coaches are even allowed to access real-time ‘player analysis’ statistics on court.
So in that sense the ‘pods’, which are the brainchild of Australian Open chief Craig Tiley, are a natural next step. Coaches will be miked up so the TV viewing experience should be enhanced – especially if Andy Murray chooses to sit there this (on Monday) morning for Novak Djokovic’s first match.
Stefanos Tsitsipas is perhaps the biggest beneficiary of the new rules as his father Apostolos was an incorrigible communicator even when it was banned.
And the Greek was more positive than Sabalenka about the pods. ‘I laughed when I saw them – it is weird – but I will acclimatise and it’s definitely something that will be cool for tennis,’ said the No11 seed. ‘It will offer something new and innovative.’
A personal view? Tennis is a gladiatorial sport and players should be left to solve their problems alone. But if coaching is to be allowed then it is right to go the whole hog with data analysis and – most importantly – microphones so the TV viewers can listen in.
