The tennis star also took her frustration out on her tennis racket, slamming it into the ground moments after the women’s singles final concluded on Saturday, Sept. 12
Credit: Robert Prange/Getty
NEED TO KNOW
- Aryna Sabalenka was frustrated after losing the women’s singles final of the US Open
- The Belarusian player slammed her racket to the court
- The world No. 2 also yelled an obscenity at a cameraman
Aryna Sabalenka was not happy about the outcome of the US Open final.
Shortly after losing the women’s singles final to Kazakhstan’s Elena Rybakina on Saturday, Sept. 12, the Belarusian tennis star had choice words for a cameraman who was trying to capture her reaction to the 6-4, 5-7, 6-2 defeat at Arthur Ashe Stadium.
“F— off,” Sabalenka, 28, said into the camera as she motioned with her hand for good measure, as if trying to shoo the camera away.
The emotional reaction came moments after Sabalenka slammed her racket to the ground, taking out her frustration after losing to the world’s No. 1 player.
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For Sabalenka, the defeat came after she was aiming for a US Open three-peat.
The tennis star would have become the first woman since Serena Williams to win three consecutive titles at the tournament (2012 to 2014).
“That’s the last thing I want to do right now is give a speech, but I’ll try my very best,” Sabalenka said Saturday before her post-match speech on the court.
Credit: Manuela Davies/USTA via Getty
Later, the four-time Grand Slam champion shed more light on her disappointment.
“It’s really tough to control your emotions when you lose in the final of the Grand Slam and when you were trying to go for three-peat,” she told reporters in a post-match press conference. “So I just wanted to let it go, because if I would hold it inside, right now or here or there on the court, I wouldn’t be able to say a word or I would just go not really nice over there.
She added, “So I just wanted to let all of that aggression and disappointment go outside.”
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