Aryna Sabalenka Dances to Michael Jackson’s ‘Thriller’ at Roland-Garros

Aryna Sabalenka is the No. 1-ranked women’s tennis player in the world and has defeated Jessica Bouzas Maneiro and Elsa Jacquemot in straight sets through her first two matches in the 2026 French Open at Roland-Garros.

Sabalenka is also winning her dance competition against Novak Djokovic.

Djokovic, whose 24 men’s singles Grand Slam major titles are the all-time record, started it. He challenged Sabalenka after his first-round win last Sunday. Sabalenka accepted, prompting Djokovic to channel Michael Jackson’s “Billie Jean” to start Round 2 of their impromptu dance-off.

Sabalenka interpreted that to mean her Round 2 dance had to be Michael Jackson-themed.

“I need to remember the dance in my head,” Sabalenka said on the court after defeating Elsa Jacquemot on Thursday.

Moments later, she showed that her memory works just fine and danced to “Thriller”:

“What’s next, Novak, huh?” Sabalenka said at the end of the video.

Djokovic will face Brazil’s Joao Fonseca in the third round on Friday, so we won’t have to wait much longer to see what he has cooked up for his next dance.

Sabalenka is seeking her first career French Open title. She has won four Grand Slam majors — the Australian Open (2023, ’24) twice and the US Open (2024, ’25) twice. She came up just short of her third Australian Open title by losing to Elena Rybakina in the final in January.

Sabalenka is the favorite at Roland-Garros right now and will face Australian Daria Kasatkina in the third round on Saturday.

Djokovic has three French Open titles to his name, but hasn’t won in Paris since 2023. His chances received an unexpected boost when No.1-ranked Jannik Sinner suffered a shocking defeat to No. 56 Juan Manuel Cerundolo in the second round on Thursday.