Will their “Brazilian diva” win her first title at the Hard Rock Stadium?João Fonseca may have bid farewell to the Miami Open but his fans remain, and they’ve picked a new favorite to go the distance at the Hard Rock Stadium.World No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka shared an iconic shirt created by some of her Brazilian fans on Instagram Tuesday, the phrase “our Brazilian diva” emblazoned across the back.Read more: João Fonseca wins over fans, electrifies Miami Open“Thank you meu 🇧🇷 fans for the cool shirt 🫶🏼” wrote Sabalenka, who lent the shirt with coach Anton Dubrov.The front shows Sabalenka at her best with the three-time major champion hoisting her three Grand Slam trophies. Despite her years of hard-court success, the top seed has yet to lift the trophy in Miami, which she considers a home tournament.A post shared by Aryna Sabalenka (@arynasabalenka)“I have no answer for why I couldn’t play really well here before,” she told Prakash Amritraj at the Tennis Channel Cadillac Desk earlier this week.“At first, I was just a newcomer to the tour and I was learning. Then, I was making it really far at Indian Wells and I didn’t know how to manage playing back-to-back tournaments and being on top of the game every day. I didn’t have a really good mindset last year. So, I’m working really hard to be successful in Miami and one day, I’ll make it happen.”With the enthusiastic support of Fonseca’s fan base, Sabalenka, who faces Zheng Qinwen in the quarterfinals, may make it happen sooner rather than later.
