Australian Open 2020: From models to a tech mogul, tennis glamour WAGs revealed
They’re the plus-ones of some of the tennis world’s biggest stars. From models to moguls, these are the wives and girlfriends of the 2020 Australian Open.
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Between glamorous tennis WAGs sitting courtside and ‘it’ bars with long queues, the Australian Open could easily double as a social hotspot.
Mr Miyagi, the must-be-seen-at eatery on Melbourne’s Chapel St, launched a pop-up at the tennis, prompting 50 metre-long queues as if it was a nightclub.
Kristian Klein, Mr Miyagi’s co-owner, said the Open had become a social scene in 2020.
“It’s more of a festival vibe and food-focused this year,” Klein said. “Going back a few years ago, it was very much a drinking and watch the tennis kind of vibe.
“Now, it’s expanded beyond that and food has become a massive part of it (the Open).”
Mr Miyagi’s menu on-site at the Open features custom-made bao buns that are “tennis ball-yellow”.
“You have to balance intricacy and still be able to keep up with speed of service,” Klein said of the Open-themed menu item.
“Around lunch time and dinner time, it’s really chaos.”
WAGS OF THE AUSTRALIAN OPEN
They’re the glamorous wives and girlfriends of Australian Open tennis stars, spanning Instagram models, charity moguls and even fellow players.
In the world of tennis WAGs, some are so low-key, you’d hardly recognise them even when they’re sitting courtside at Rod Laver Arena.
Others are courting attention on Instagram, posing in racy bikinis and lacy lingerie to hundreds of thousands of followers.
There’s no Victoria Beckham-style equivalent to the Footballers’ Wives soccer WAG clique, possibly because tennis is an individual sport and there’s less competition among the “TWAGs” (as they’ve been dubbed).
These are some faces to watch on the tennis WAG scene in 2020.
MILOS RAONIC AND CAMILLE RINGOIR
Camille Ringoir, 26, is the model-girlfriend of Canadian player Milos Raonic.
The couple are said to have been dating for more than a year, though the Belgian model rarely posts about Raonic to her 44,000-plus Instagram followers.
Ringoir — who has been in Melbourne during the Australian Open and was in Raonic’s players’ box at the US Open in September — posts racy bikini-clad photos to Instagram and lives a jet-set lifestyle, with recent trips to the Bahamas, Italy and New York.
Ringoir, who has a resemblance to Kendall Jenner, apparently started modelling when she was 13-years-old.
ALEXANDER ZVEREV AND BRENDA PATEA
With nearly 250,000 followers on Instagram, Brenda Patea is the model girlfriend of German tennis star, Alexander “Sascha” Zverev.
She appeared on Germany’s Next Top Model (where she was known as “Brenda Hübscher”) and finished in 10th spot.
Since then, she has clocked up some serious social media clout, posting sexy bikini selfies and glamorous fashion shoots, as she travels with boyfriend Zverev on the tennis circuit.
The couple have been spied out and about in Melbourne in the lead-up to the Australian Open, even packing on the PDA at the IMG-hosted players’ party over the weekend.
The pair went public with their romance late last year, with Patea revealing she met world No. 7 Zverev in Paris.
Zverev has tried to keep his private life private and reportedly broke up with ex-girlfriend, Russian tennis player Olya Sharypova, last April.
RAFAEL NADAL AND XISCA PERELLO
Rafael Nadal tied the knot with long-term girlfriend Xisca Perello, 30, in October after dating for 14 years.
Perello — who works in insurance and is the project director for the Rafa Nadal Foundation — has avoided the spotlight during their relationship. She’s rarely in the spotlight, even at his matches.
The couple were married in front of around 350 guests at the La Fortaleza castle in Majorca, where Nadal was born.
Perello joined Nadal, 33, at the Open last year – only the second time she has attended since they began dating in 2005.
In an interview with The Telegraph, Xisca explained why she keeps a low profile.
“He needs his space when he is competing, and just the idea of me hanging around and waiting on his needs all day tires me out,” she said, according to The Sun.
“It would asphyxiate me. And then he would have to be worrying about me … No. If I followed him everywhere, I think there’s a risk we might stop getting along.”
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Usually, Nadal refuses to speak about his personal life but gave a rare insight into his relationship during an previous interview with Jim Courier.
“You guys have a day and a half off, and I’m wondering what do you … like to do when you’re not working here in Australia, when you have a bit of time?,” Courier asked Nadal.
Courier anticipated Nadal wouldn’t appreciate being quizzed about his then-girlfriend, saying, “I told you, you weren’t going to like it (the question).”
Nadal’s response: “As I say to you a couple of years ago in 2017, I think it was the first time she was able to be here, that she had received a wildcard in that moment and now after 14 years together she doesn’t need wildcards,” Nadal said, of his girlfriend’s attendance.
“She comes wherever she wants.”
SERENA WILLIAMS AND ALEXIS OHANIAN
He’s the tennis circuit’s most recognisable husband. Tennis star Serena Williams is married to Alexis Ohanian — a hugely successful tech entrepreneur who co-founded social news site, Reddit.
Ohanian — who is worth $A12.5 million — is a regular courtside at Serena’s matches, which he attends with the couple’s daughter, Olympia.
He co-runs an Instagram account for the tot (whose full name is Alexis Olympia Ohanian Junior), @olympiaohanian.
The New York-born tech mogul, 36, penned the book Without Their Permission: How the 21st Century Will Be Made, Not Managed and tied the knot with Williams in November 2017.
The star-studded wedding attended by Kim Kardashian, US Vogue editor-in-chief Anna Wintour, and Eva Longoria.
ROGER FEDERER AND MIRKA FEDERER
One of tennis’ power couples, Mirka Federer – the wife of Roger Federer – has already been spied in the crowd at Rod Laver Arena during the 2020 Australian Open.
Mirka, 41, is a former pro tennis player, who retired in 2002 after a serious foot injury.
She married Roger, 38, in 2009, and the couple share four children: twin girls Myla and Charlene, and twin boys Lenny and Leo Federer.
Mirka was previously involved in managing Federer’s career, a role which she ultimately stepped away from.
“She’s been there when I had no titles and she’s still here … so she had a big part to play,” Federer previously said, speaking about his wife.
“She knows it, I know it, everybody knows it. She’s a mum number one and a wife, and only then later does she become the supporter.”
“She stepped away from it a little bit after becoming super involved. I guess that was 2003, 2004 when she was right in the centre of the storm really.
“I didn’t enjoy that role for her really because she had to say no too many times.”
Federer is worth $US93.4 million, according to Forbes, with endorsements deals spanning from Rolex to Uniqlo.
AJLA TOMLJANOVIC AND MATTEO BERRETTINI
Australian tennis bad boy Nick Kyrgios, 24, and Croatian-born Australian player Ajla Tomljanović, 26, were linked on and off since 2015.
The couple split in mid-2017 after Kyrgios was seen partying with other girls in London that year, before reuniting, and then splitting again.
Around the time they broke up, Brisbane-based Tomljanović — who is ranked 52nd — deleted her Instagram feed and later, removed all photos of world No. 26 Kyrgios from it. They currently do not follow each other on social media.
Last September, Tomljanović was spotted in the player box of Italy’s Matteo Berrettini and the pair were also seen on dates in New York and in Canada. Despite much speculation, Tomljanović and Berrettini’s current status remains unconfirmed.
Berrettini reportedly told an Italian newspaper that Tomljanović had a “good soul”.
“Ajla has a good soul; I would even say pure, and that I had to find out step by step. Because of her education and culture, she was difficult to reach. And what I found struck me,” he reportedly told Milan-based Italian daily newspaper, Corriere Della Sera.
“She understands my timing, she does not bother me, she knows that when I am not with her I am busy doing what a tennis player needs to do.”
Originally published as Australian Open 2020: From models to a tech mogul, tennis glamour WAGs revealed