After she was in the eye of the storm due to her post-match speech after her loss to Coco Gauff in the French Open earlier this year, where she was criticized for her words, Belarusian player and World No.1 Aryna Sabalenka jokingly told reporters that they wouldn’t get that sort of reaction after her Wimbledon loss.
“Are you guys waiting for something? You’re not going to see a Roland-Garros press conference,” Sabalenka said on Thursday when she arrived for her question-and-answer session after being eliminated by Amanda Anisimova 6-4 4-6 6-4 at Centre Court. “So anyone who was waiting for that, you can leave right now.”
The online vitriol was so intense that Sabalenka first wrote a private apology to Gauff before the two patched things up by posting TikTok and Instagram videos together right before the start of competition at the All England Club.
“I just don’t want to face that hate again. We’re all people. We all can lose control over our emotions. It’s absolutely normal. Every time when I was really that close in that match today to completely lose it and start — I don’t know — yelling, screaming, smashing the rackets, I keep reminding myself that’s not an option,” the 27-year-old said.
“The first moment (is) always the worst one, because every time you compete at that tournament, and you get to the last stages, you think that you’re getting close to your dream. Then you lose the match, and you feel like, OK, this is the end,” she added.
Talking about Anisimova, Sabalenka said that her opponent played a brave brand of tennis.
“She was more brave today. Maybe when I was just trying to stay in the point, she was going for all. She was playing more aggressive,” she said.
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Sabalenka was hoping to become the first woman in a decade to reach four major finals in a row after winning the U.S. Open last year, then finishing as the runner-up at the Australian Open and French Open in 2025. She also was trying to get to her first title match at Wimbledon but ultimately fell short.
(With agency inputs)
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