Aryna Sabalenka had a tough day as she couldn't keep up with Martina Hingis’ record of three straight Australian Open titles. The World No. 1 faced a 3-6, 6-2, 5-7 loss to Madison Keys, who celebrated her first Grand Slam victory. Before the final, Sabalenka had only lost one set throughout the tournament, but she started the match with a lot of mistakes and her serve just wasn't on point.

She did make a bit of a comeback in the second set, but the errors returned in the final set, leading to her defeat and an emotional breakdown. While Keys was in celebration mode, Sabalenka smashed her racquet and buried her face in a towel, crying in her chair. Eventually, she got up, grabbed her bag, and headed to the locker room.

Aryna Sabalenka talks about her actions

Later on, she returned for the closing ceremony and appeared to have a better grip on her emotions as she congratulated Keys. During the post-match press conference in Melbourne, Sabalenka was asked about her emotional outburst after the loss. She mentioned, “There was definitely some frustration because I was so close to achieving something incredible.”

“When you’re out there, you’re battling, but it feels like nothing is going your way.”

“I just needed to let go of those negative feelings at the end so I could give a speech without being disrespectful. I was trying to move on and be a decent person, to show respect. It’s all good. I know that after tough losses, there are good wins ahead. So I’ll keep pushing and make sure that next time I’m in this situation, I’ll definitely perform better,” she continued.

When explaining why she walked off before the closing ceremony, she shared that she needed some time to ‘switch off’. “Yeah, it was tough. I just needed that moment for myself to disconnect and leave it behind while being respectful, not being - I don’t know,” she said.

“I just wanted to show respect. I needed to clear my head and take some time for myself. Yeah, it was definitely really hard. I was standing there thinking: ‘Okay, come on, you’ve been in her shoes. She deserves this. She played better than you.’ It was just really tough,” she added.

Sabalenka is a three-time Grand Slam champion, including the titles from the 2023 and 2024 Australian Opens.

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