Belarusian tennis ace Sabalenka celebrates 22nd birthday by treating fans to topless photo

Belarusian tennis talent Aryna Sabalenka has given fans a birthday treat by posting a tasteful topless picture to her Instagram account.

World number 11 Sabalenka turned 22 on Tuesday, and marked the occasion with a stylish image shared with her 135,000 Instagram followers, in which she is seated topless on a chair while clutching a red rose. 

"22... it's no joke," Sabalenka captioned the saucy celebratory pic from a recent photoshoot, which soon racked up in excess of 15,000 'likes'. 

Sabalenka and her fellow tennis female pros are currently sidelined by the Covid-19 pandemic, with the women's WTA tour suspended until at least mid-June. 

There is uncertainty over how soon the tour could resume beyond that date, given the global nature of competitions and the varying coronavirus restrictions in place around the world. 

Wimbledon has already fallen victim to the pandemic, while there are growing fears that the US Open and rescheduled French Open could also fall by the wayside. 

Earlier this week, men's star Rafael Nadal suggested that the 2020 season should be scrapped altogether to allow proper preparations for the Australian Open to kick off 2021. 

However, even that plan could be optimistic as officials at the Melbourne tournament admitted that they are drawing up "worst-case scenario" plans for the event to be cancelled.   

Sabalenka's most recent court outing was a successful one, as she walked away victorious at the Qatar Open at the end of February after defeating Czech ace Petra Kvitová in the final. 

That added to the Minks-born star's pot of more than $6 million in career prize money to date and puts her on six WTA singles titles. 

Once play does finally resume, Sabalenka will be aiming to regain the top-10 spot in the rankings she held just before coronavirus stopped sport.