Eh. No one really cares about a photoshoot. Sabalenka won the 2023 AO, when she was constantly ridiculed, with attacks on her psychological fitness, game and nonsense having no relation to tennis, but she won with her undeniable talent.
This should be a bigger story than it is. The dominance of these 2 is super impressive - it seems they just need a similar team to create a solid rivalry. In the world of doubles where partnerships dissolve and new ones form regularly, it is pretty amazing how long they've been a team and the continued success they are seeing. Winning the last 4 majors they have played (unfortunately missed RG '22) is nothing short of dominant. I really hope Krejcikova is on top form for RG '23 in the singles so we have the prospect of seeing her play Swiatek. The fact Krejcikova was not prepared for her RG defence due to injury in 2022 still bothers me and I want them to have it out. It's like when Barty missed RG '20 as the defending champ when Iga won her first major there - I want a clash of recent champs!
I can appreciate the conversations Pam Shriver has started over the past few years with regards to safeguarding but sometimes I do feel she's a bit off the mark and automatically sees some situations in an alarming way. I listen to The Tennis Podcast a lot and she's not totally wrong but I do think in this case Rybakina has shut it down and rightly so. There are instances where players may be vulnerable but Rybakina seems anything but. There may be murmurings from inside the tennis bubble which we aren't party to, but Rybakina has spoken out and reassured those with concerns so there's really no story here anymore.