Out tennis couple Alison Van Uytvanck and Greet Minnen share kiss after WTA match
Image: Screenshot: @baddragonite / Twitter.
Alison Van Uytvanck and Greet Minnen have caused a sensation after sharing an embrace and a kiss following the couple’s first WTA singles match against each other.
Belgian tennis pros Van Uytvanck and Minnen recently became the first out lesbian couple to play as a doubles pair at Wimbledon this year.
Partners on and off the court, the duo have been together for three years but never in a singles match against each other until the Karlsruhe Open in Germany.
Their match went to three sets in the first round of the tournament, with 25-year old Van Uytvanck triumphing over Minnen 6-4 1-6 6-1.
A clip of their long embrace and kiss at the end of the match went viral on Twitter, with both players retweeting it.
Tennis fans went wild over the video, calling it “so freaking cute” and saying the exchange is “worth a thousand words”.
This exchange at the net between @AlisonVanU and @GreetMinnen97 is so freaking cute ????????️???? #liquimolyopen pic.twitter.com/hSMpXhN9Mq
— Suzanne Lam (@baddragonite) July 29, 2019
Images worth a thousand words.
Girlfriends Alison Van Uytvanck and Greet Minnen embrace and share a kiss at the net after the former defeats the latter 6-4, 1-6, 6-1 in the WTA Karlsruhe R1.
One of the toughest matches they’ve both ever played, surely. pic.twitter.com/XAYCCCpQtv
— Bastien Fachan (@BastienFachan) July 29, 2019
The match has been dubbed a ‘love game’, with the second-seeded Van Uytvanck advancing to the round of 16.
Minnen shared a photo of the couple on her Instagram after their Wimbledon debut, calling Van Uytvanck “the best partner”.
Van Uytvanck made it to the fourth round at Wimbledon last year, but this year was sent packing by Australia’s Ashleigh Barty, currently number one in the world, in the second round.
Interviewed at Wimbledon this year, the Belgian star said she hoped more players would come out.
“We [would like to] see more people coming forward and saying ‘It’s OK.’ I think people would have more confidence,” Van Uytvanck told The Guardian.
“That would be something good, men would appreciate that. More people would come out – it would help to make it easier.
“There must be some gay men [actively playing] out there. For me personally, [if I were] a man, it would be more difficult to come out [because of the stereotypes],” she said.
The couple made headlines at Wimbledon in 2018 when Van Uytvanck kissed Minnen live on television following her defeat of defending champion Garbine Muguruza in the third round.
Van Uytvanck is currently ranking No. 65 in the world, while 21-year-old Minnen sits at No. 123.
The couple spoke about that kiss and the possibility of facing each other on the tennis court in an interview with The Telegraph this year.
“It was pure instinct. I just saw Greet and wanted to hug her,” Van Uytvanck said.
“I know it was a big deal but we just didn’t think about it. She had just made the biggest win of her career and so I was so happy and not thinking in that moment,” added Minnen.
Prior to the Karlsruhe Open, they had only faced on the practice court.
“It would be really weird,” said Van Uytvanck of squaring off in a professional match.
“We’ve never had that situation, I don’t even want to think about it!”
“We are talking about it a lot now because it’s getting closer and closer. It’s going to be really tough but if it has to happen, it has to happen, and we’re both going to give it our all,” Minnen said.
With the match going to three sets and ending on such a heartwarming note, you would be hard pressed to say they didn’t.
