From TikTok dances on the grass with Coco Gauff to practice court fun with Jannik Sinner and Novak Djokovic - trying to knock over empty ball cans – and Djokovic popping up at her press conference to affectionately tease her, Aryna Sabalenka’s preparations have had a light and playful tone.

In good spirits before The Championships, she even described her first round opponent, Carson Branstine, a Canadian qualifier and occasional model, as “super pretty”, saying she saw a video of her on social media the other day and thought: “Oh, my god, this girl is so beautiful.”

But don’t think for a moment that the dancing, joshing, giggling world No.1 isn’t going to be her usual fierce self on the match court on Monday afternoon; there’s a reason she has a tattoo of a tiger on her arm and not one of a kitten.

Ferociously ambitious as ever, Sabalenka has come to London to win the Venus Rosewater Dish for the first time. Anything but the title this Fortnight would be a disappointment for the 27-year-old, who has already had the double frustration this season of losing in the Australian Open and Roland-Garros finals, and who cares so much about the details, and being primed for competition, she even warms up her toes before practice.

Aside from bringing some lighter moments before the serious business begins, as well as showcasing her personality, there’s been some other purpose to all this fun at Wimbledon. The TikTok dance was well choreographed, and not just because of the way the rivals were moving on the lawn. The dance signified that Sabalenka and Gauff are still friends after some of the heat and noise around the Roland-Garros final.

Shortly after coming off court in Paris, when the emotions were still high, Sabalenka had suggested Gauff hadn’t won because of her own high level of tennis but because Sabalenka had made so many unforced errors (70 over the three sets). Those comments became a talking point and it was “a tough time” for Sabalenka, who felt as though she got what she “deserved” for what she had done.

To distract herself on a short break in Mykonos, she read a book called ‘Into the Magic Shop: A Neurosurgeon's Quest to Discover the Mysteries of the Brain and the Secrets of the Heart’.

Sabalenka has since reflected that her remarks were unprofessional. She apologised in public to Gauff and in private messaged the American “to check we were OK after Roland-Garros”. Sabalenka was relieved that when they spoke, it was a “smooth” conversation.

“I didn't really want to offend her,” Sabalenka said. “I was just completely upset with myself, and emotions got over me. I just completely lost it.”

That won’t happen again, she has promised. But perhaps they needed to dance together – on the biggest stage of all, the lawns of Wimbledon - for people to accept there was no animosity between the world’s two highest-ranked players, and that all was well going into The Championships.

As Sabalenka said to the camera: “You see? We’re all good, guys, chill out.” When posting the video on social media, Sabalenka wrote: “TikTok dances always had a way of bringing people together.”

Fun has been mixed with hard work on the practice courts. With Sabalenka the first to topple the ball can on the practice court, it was Sinner’s team who had to drop to the grass and do some press-ups. After just 10 minutes hitting with a fellow world No.1, Sabalenka was “exhausted”: “It’s just another level of intensity when hitting with the guys.”

Hanging out with Djokovic was also a joy and an education for Sabalenka. They practised for about an hour, during which they played the game of trying to hit the ball cans, though on that occasion it was for money, with “100 bucks” riding on it. They also spoke for half an hour.

“Novak is the best. First of all, I was able to hit with him, which not every guy would be able to do. Then you can chat with him. He will give his honest advice,” Sabalenka said.

“It's amazing, yeah, to hear the opinions of such a legend. So we were just chatting about stuff that I'm kind of like struggling [with] a little bit. I'm really thankful for the advice he gave me. It was, yeah, like 30 minutes' chat. If you [have an] opportunity to Novak to talk, he's not going to stop. I wish I could stay there for four hours and just keep chatting. We all have our schedule.” 

Towards the end of Sabalenka’s pre-Championships press conference, Djokovic appeared in the room. Sabalenka asked him how she had played in their practice. Djokovic began by saying: “I think you have the potential. You're, like, a really talented player. You have nice strokes, good technique.” The Serb went on to joke: “Can I be honest? You're lacking intensity on the court. You don't have enough intensity.”

A laughing Sabalenka responded: “Before, this guy was my favourite player. But not any more, obviously.”