An announcing call just hits different when an athlete wins not only for themselves, but for an entire country. Over the years we’ve seen plenty of great calls from international announcers who obviously take a lot of pride in seeing what their homegrown athletes have been able to achieve. None have done it quite as well as this Belarusian commentator who celebrated Aryna Sabalenka’s US Open semifinal victory over Madison Keys.
After Sabalenka defeated Keys in the third set, this announcer broke into a full singing of Survivor’s 1982 classic “Eye of the Tiger.” In English, too! The call itself in the native language is very energetic and great enough, but the singing makes it a 10 out of 10 – especially when the announcer either runs out of steam or forgets the words because it ends in a lalalalalala.
The announcer, Pavel Kisly, was kind enough to share his own cilp on Twitter for us to enjoy.
https://twitter.com/pavelkislyi/status/1700059901442093551
Sabalenka will face another American in the final as she squares off against Coco Gauff. Sabalenka will be looking for her second major title after winning the Australian Open earlier this year while Gauff will be going for her first. Eye of the Tiger would have been a great choice for the final because there aren’t many pump-up 80’s rock anthems that are better, but perhaps Kisly is saving Queen’s “We Are The Champions” for a possible grand finale.