Aryna Sabalenka, the world no. 1, will have a longer wait for the maiden Wimbledon title as she got knocked out by Naomi Osaka in the fourth round on Sunday.
Sabalenka said she felt like drowning her sorrows after the loss. She wasn’t in control of the game, as Osaka’s pace and shot depth threw Sabalenka off, despite her efforts in the second set.
Osaka defeated Sabalenka 6-2, 7-6(2) in a thrilling victory on Centre Court.
During the first set, the Belarusian athlete screamed in frustration, while early in the second set, she banged her racket against her head repeatedly.
A year before, the world No. 1 lost to Anisimova in the semifinal, which was her third successive loss at that stage of Wimbledon. Sabalenka stated she had a ‘hate relationship’ with Wimbledon. She was asked how she felt about her latest exit on grass.
“No emotions. Just know that I can handle myself much better than last year,” she told reporters. “Obviously, guys, if you were expecting something really fun, not going to happen. Probably just going to be short answers.”
“I fucked it up this year. Next year I’ll try to do better. I just think, to be honest, I feel like my level was really low today, plus she was feeling her best. With every game we would play, I would feel worse, she would feel better.”
Earlier this year, Sabalenka lost the Australian Open final and lost the Roland Garros quarter-finals after falling in the final set against Diana Shnaider. She stated that she felt like quitting tennis and that she was in a dark place. While Aryna will remain as World No. 1 after the Wimbledon defeat, the topic does little to interest her right now.
“Oh, this question, guys. I mean, let’s just look at the ranking. Right now I’m world number one. Level-wise, today I wasn’t world number one. Yesterday I was world number one,” she said. “I feel like I just don’t even want to think about rankings at this point. I just want to go, get completely drunk, forget about tennis, and try to get in better shape.”
This is the first time in six years that, during a Grand Slam, she suffered her first straight-sets defeat.
“It’s okay. I’ll get back stronger. We’ll start building everything from scratch for the next one,” said Aryna.
