Dave Portnoy is certainly keen on covering sports stars.
Dave Portnoy and Aryna Sabalenka appear to be forging the start of a promising friendship.
Sabalenka had extended an invitation to Portnoy to sit in her coach’s box during her U.S. Open finals match against Coco Gauff last month. However, the Barstool Sports founder had a prior commitment and couldn’t be in two places at once.
Nonetheless, they met up at an undisclosed location in Miami on Friday night.
Portnoy shared a photo of their encounter on X, with the caption, “The Queen of Tennis @SabalenkaA.”
Portnoy’s fascination with Sabalenka began during the early rounds of the U.S. Open.
He went on to place a likely substantial wager on Sabalenka’s semifinal match against Madison Keys, passionately live-tweeting and vlogging the match. Keys won the first set 6-0, but Sabalenka mounted a remarkable comeback, winning tiebreakers in both the second and third sets.
RELATED: Dave Portnoy Got Invited to US Open Finals As Special Guest of Aryna Sabalenka
After the match, Portnoy posted a video on X at 1 a.m. ET, visibly out of breath from the adrenaline of witnessing the comeback. He expressed his admiration for Sabalenka, calling her “my girl” and labeling his victorious bet as “the biggest war I’ve ever been in.”
“I love her. I’m Sabalenka for life,” Portnoy declared, still catching his breath, and suggested that he might not be able to bet on tennis again.
The following morning, Portnoy discovered a message in his direct-message inbox from Sabalenka, inviting him to watch her finals match against Gauff. Regrettably, he was already committed to being in Tuscaloosa for Barstool’s live college football streaming show ahead of the Alabama vs. Texas game.
Portnoy penned a blog expressing how much he would have relished the opportunity to accept her invitation.
“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.”
Dave Portnoy’s journey has been nothing short of exhilarating for quite some time, and we can anticipate a continuous stream of entertainment from the President of Barstool Sports.
