‘Sore loser’ – Aryna Sabalenka stirs up talk with two things she did after losing the US Open final to Elena Rybakina
Aryna Sabalenka faced a lot of criticism from tennis fans after her strong reaction to losing the US Open final against Elena Rybakina.
Rybakina won her third Grand Slam title with a 6-4, 5-7, 6-2 win in New York. This loss means Sabalenka will finish the year without a Grand Slam title for the first time since 2022. To add to her disappointment, Rybakina became the new world No. 1, taking the spot Sabalenka held for 99 weeks.
After the match, Sabalenka showed her frustration by smashing her racket on the court and even seemed to swear at a camera filming her reaction.
Fans quickly called her a “sore loser” after her tough defeat at Flushing Meadows on Saturday. One person said, “Sore loser as always. She needs to grow up,” while another added, “She lost because she didn’t have patience; if she had played like she did in the second set, she would’ve won.”
Later, when Sabalenka was with her team before the trophy ceremony and noticed a camera zooming in on her, she appeared to swear at it. Some fans felt she needed a bit more humility. One wrote, “Aryna is amazing when she wins; but when she loses, she can be really hard to watch.”
This year has been a challenging one for Sabalenka, who has put a lot of pressure on herself. After winning the US Open last year, she hoped to add more Grand Slam titles but has fallen just short each time. She lost closely to Rybakina at the Australian Open and struggled at the French Open, where she gave up a strong lead. At Wimbledon, she had her earliest loss in a Grand Slam in four years, and now the US Open defeat adds to the tough stretch.
“It’s really hard to keep my emotions in check when I lose a Grand Slam final and was going for a third win in a row,” Sabalenka said after the match. “If I kept it all inside, I wouldn’t be able to say anything right now. I needed to let out my frustration and disappointment.”