Having reached the final once again, Sabalenka was beaten by Madison Keys as her 20-match winning streak at the Australian Open came to an end.

Despite not adding to her Grand Slam collection, Sabalenka still holds the US Open that she won after beating Jessica Pegula last year.

Kim Clijsters notices how relationships have changed on the WTA Tour

To reach her third successive Australian Open final, Sabalenka beat her best friend Paula Badosa in straight sets.

Despite the disappointment of losing the semi-final, Badosa and Sabalenka were spotted joking in the locker room shortly after their match.

When speaking about their relationship on the Served with Andy Roddick podcast, former world number one Kim Clijsters explained how things have changed on the WTA Tour.

“I mean it is best friends but I don’t know, I see with my closer friends, I could never have that kind of relationship with an opponent because if my friend was on tour with me we would be together all the time,” said Clijsters. “We would be having dinners together!”

“In tennis there is still a bit of separation where they all have their team and their boyfriends, so there is a bit of separation. I do think in the last few years the players have got a lot closer than what they were back in the day I think, maybe social media has something to do with it too.

“I didn’t know much about my opponent’s private life back in the day, because it wasn’t out there. At the press conference you might pick up things here and there and I would know who was part of their teams, but you didn’t know where they went on vacation or who they were dating.

“Now you see it all out there on social media so it is different but I think it’s great. It’s great for women to be close to each other on tour and vent to each other. But at the same time it has to be weird to then compete against each other as well.

“But there were players back in the day you could play against and literally two minutes later in the locker room you could joke and talk about the match to each other.

“And then there were players you could potentially meet in the quarter finals and they wouldn’t even look at you any more. So everybody was different.”

Ons Jabeur is also close to Sabalenka and Badosa, signifying the changing relationships between rivals on the WTA Tour in recent years.

What did Aryna Sabalenka tell Paula Badosa after their Australian Open semi-final?

Following their exchange in the locker room, Badosa was asked what Sabalenka told her after beating their semi-final match.

“That it was really unfair for me that she played this level today (smiling),” Badosa said in her post-match press conference. “I was expecting, of course, a good level, but maybe not that much.

“But no, she came, like, to say that she played three semifinals before she won a title. She was very proud of my improvement lately, especially with all I’ve been through.

“So, yeah, we were just joking around. I’m really happy that, look, if I have to lose against somebody, of course I want to lose against world number one and against Aryna, and I wish her the best.”

It appears that all is forgotten between the friends, as Sabalenka and Badosa have done joint interviews together and voiced their opinions on big topics including equal prize money.