Aryna Sabalenka shows up famous £120m sport star's family member at Wimbledon

World No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka disposed of qualifier CarsonBranstinewith relative ease during her opening Wimbledon encounter. The three-time Grand Slam winner's Canadian opponent is the cousin of Los Angeles Dodgers baseball star and future MLB Hall of Famer Freddie Freeman.

Sabalenka, who is yet to reach a Wimbledon final, battled past her first-round adversary with relative ease on Monday, besting Branstine 6-1, 7-5. The 27-year-old wrapped up the first set in a swift 24 minutes before Branstine, who mustered four more aces than opponent Sabalenka in the bout, fought bravely to extend the second set prior to defeat at the All England Club. She isn't the only sports star in the family, however, as her cousin is the heroic first baseman of the 2024 MLB champion LA Dodgers.

Branstine's cousin, Freeman, was a five-time MLB All-Star with the Atlanta Braves before ending an 11-year stint in Georgia to sign with the Dodgers in 2022, one year after winning the 117th World Series.

Freeman penned a £120million six-year contract three years ago, and in 2024, the first baseman helped the top-seed Dodgers defeat the New York Yankees to secure his second championship. His net worth stands at £60m, according to Celebrity Net Worth, and he'll be looking to add a third ring to his fingers this season as the Dodgers' deep pitching rotation aims to repeat.

While his cousin Branstine didn't get to dine on such success in SW19, the Canadian still put up a valiant fight against Sabalenka and impressed in qualifying. Branstine's road to the Wimbledon women's tournament proper saw her not only take down No. 1 qualifying seed Lois Boisson but also defeat former US Open champion Bianca Andreescu.

Alas, she was no match for the world No. 1, who extended her run of beating qualifiers in major tournaments to a brilliant 10. She hasn't lost in a Grand Slam first-round match for almost six years.

Sabalenka arrived in England after a crushing French Open final loss to Coco Gauff. In the wake of the defeat, she stated that she lost due to her own mistakes and not Gauff's brilliance, causing a stir. However, both have buried the hatchet, and Sabalenka is out for revenge, stating: "The emotions took over me. In the finals or semi-finals, sometimes I can get over-emotional.

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"I would like to improve that. I would like to stay to the same mentality I have during the tournament, because I believe I get over-emotional at the last stages of the tournaments because I have this desire of winning. Honestly, I'm kind of glad what happened to me at Paris, because I was able to learn a lot. I really hope it will never happen again."

Sabalenka added that she would "love to face" Gauff in the final at Wimbledon, saying: "If she's going to be there, I'm happy because I want to get the revenge."