​Aryna Sabalenka was left unhappy with her performance in Wimbledon’s round of 16, where she was defeated in straight sets by Naomi Osaka on Sunday, July 5, at the tournament’s iconic Center Court. The upset was notable since Sabalenka was the top seed and the No. 1 player in women’s tennis. In her post-match press conference aired on ABC, Sabalenka admitted she wasn’t thinking about rankings at that moment and said she just wanted to unwind and work on getting back into better shape.
Osaka won the first set 6-2 and then edged Sabalenka 7-6 (7-2) in the second, securing the victory. This marked Sabalenka’s first loss to Osaka in eight years, dating back to the 2018 U.S. Open, despite Sabalenka having beaten Osaka three times earlier this year.
A month earlier, Sabalenka had been upset in the French Open quarterfinals by Diana Shnaider, squandering a one-set and two-break advantage before falling 3-6, 7-5, 6-0. After that match, she conveyed a similar sense of frustration. “Just want to quit tennis right now,” she said, adding that she hoped to regain her mental footing in the days ahead. “I don’t know when’s the last time that happened to me where I lost 10 games in a row. I guess mentally I got into a very deep, deep dark hole and I couldn’t get back mentally on track.” This report includes contributions from Scooby Axson of USA TODAY Sports.