Is Barstool’s Dave Portnoy and Tennis Star Aryna Sabalenka Just Friends? Know The Details Of Their Relationship

Aryna Sabalenka and Dave Portnoy are forging a lovely friendship that is just getting started.

When Sabalenka faced Coco Gauff in the U.S. Open finals last month, Portnoy was invited to sit in her coach’s box. However, due to a prior obligation, the creator of Barstool Sports was unable to be in two places at once.

Still, the two got together on Friday night in Miami at an undisclosed location.

Dave Portnoy
Dave Portnoy’s Instagram Story

“The Queen of Tennis @SabalenkaA,” was the caption Portnoy wrote on a picture he shared of the two of them on X.

In the initial stages of the U.S. Open, Portnoy became enthralled with Sabalenka.

Then, he would wildly live tweet and video Sabalenka’s semifinal match against Madison Keys, which saw Keys win the first set 6-0 before Sabalenka stormed back to win the match, winning tiebreakers in both the second and third sets. He would then place a likely hefty wager on those events.

“That’s my girl,” Portnoy said in a video he posted on X after the game, describing his winning wager as “the biggest war I’ve ever been in,” and how the adrenaline from watching the comeback had taken him out of breath.

“I love her. Though he was having trouble breathing, Portnoy continued, “I’m Sabalenka for life,” adding that he wasn’t sure whether he would ever be able to place another tennis wager.

When Portnoy awoke the following morning, he found a letter from Sabalenka in his direct message inbox, inviting him to watch her final match against Gauff. However, he had already made plans to attend Barstool’s live college football streaming show in Tuscaloosa, which took place before Alabama took on Texas.

How much he would have enjoyed accepting the invitation, he wrote in a blog post.

“Imagine that? Me constantly on National TV rooting against Coco Gauff in the U.S. Open Finals? Me against the entire stadium and country? Me rooting for a Belarus tennis player vs. an American? The internet would have exploded. ‘There goes racist Dave again! Of course, he’d root against a Black woman in the finals!’” Portnoy wrote.

“Wallo and Gillie [hosts of Barstool’s ‘Million Dollaz Worth of Game’ podcast] would have had to do a redemption tour across the country apologizing for being my friend. The hit pieces would have been through the roof. It would have been chaos and I would have lived for every second of it.”

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