Sabalenka destroys racquet, yells at the cameraman after US Open loss

New York, Sep 13

After being denied the historic opportunity to complete a historic three-peat at the US Open, Aryna Sabalenka smashed her racquet on the court as Elena Rybakina celebrated her 6-4, 5-7, 6-2 victory just feet away.

After Rybakina secured the championship-winning point, the broadcast camera followed her as she acknowledged the crowd before cutting to Sabalenka, sitting on the bench and smashing her racket on the court and tossing it to the side.

Later, Sabalenka also yelled at a cameraperson who was trying to capture her emotions after the defeat.

In capturing the crown here, Rybakian not only prevented Sabalenka from “three-peating” at consecutive US Opens. But when Rybakina ascends to world No. 1 on Monday, she’ll be wresting the top spot from Sabalenka, who’s had the number one next to her name for 99 consecutive weeks.

"I'm obviously not really happy with the level I played today, but she served incredible," Sabalenka told reporters. "She played really aggressive, great tennis. Yeah, she was simply a better player today than me."

Asked about her new standing as world No. 2 perhaps freeing her up to play without the proverbial target on her back? she replied, "I think any way when you go out there, you have target on your back. Doesn't matter if you are No. 1, No. 2, 3, 4, whatever it is. I'll just keep working hard and keep improving my tennis, my level. Hopefully I will win some more tournaments."

The outgoing world No. 1 cheekily challenged Rybakina to beat her 99-week reign atop the WTA rankings. "99? Well, that's amazing. Let's see if Elena can beat me in that," she said with a laugh. "If she continues to play like that, then yeah, I'm in trouble."

Rybakina will debut at world No. 1 on Monday, bringing an end to Sabalenka's second stint at the top. Her first reign was considerably shorter, just eight weeks in 2023.

The 2026 US Open loss means Sabalenka finished a Grand Slam season without a title for the first time since 2022. This was Sabalenka’s last chance to win a Grand Slam title, something she’s done at least once every year since 2023. That was when Sabalenka claimed her first major title, at the 2023 Australian Open, where she defeated, you guessed it, Rybakina in the final.

bc/