Aryna Sabalenka Drops F-Bomb When Asked If She’ll Analyze Her Performance After Australian Open Heartbreak
Aryna Sabalenka lost her career's fourth Grand Slam singles final and now holds a 4-4 win-loss record.
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Aryna Sabalenka (Image via Fox Sports)
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Aryna Sabalenka laughed, cried, and was hysterical after her Australian Open heartbreak. On Saturday (January 31), Sabalenka failed to capitalize on her lead and ended up losing her fourth Grand Slam singles final, 6-4, 4-6, 6-4, this time, to Elena Rybakina.
Rybakina won five consecutive games in the third set after being down 0-3. The Ace Queen served an ace to avenge her 2023 Australian Open final defeat and win her first title at Melbourne Park.
When Sabalenka entered the press room after the defeat, she was laughing and swore at her team when a reporter asked her when she would sit down with her team and debrief the final. Although Sabalenka’s coaches were not in the press room, her agent and another member of her team were there, and she asked them, “When today?” before she jokingly swore at them.
Oh, f**k you. Maybe in a week or maybe in a few days, whenever I feel like, Okay, I can move on from this one.
Sabalenka lost a set for the first time this season. She defended her title at the Brisbane International after going past Marta Kostyuk.
Rybakina also featured in the WTA 500 event in Brisbane, but her run ended in the quarterfinals against Karolina Muchova. She also dropped a set for the first time in the Major Down Under.
Rybakina now holds a 7-8 head-to-head record over the Belarusian ace. Before this match, they met in the championship clash of last year’s WTA Finals, which Rybakina won.
Aryna Sabalenka jokes about her team after losing the Australian Open final
Aryna Sabalenka lost her second consecutive final at Melbourne Park. It was, in fact, her fourth consecutive final in the tournament. During her runner-up speech, the World No.1 joked that her team now had to witness her losing another Grand Slam final. At the press conference, she joked that her team was avoiding her because of her mood.
Even in this final, I felt like I played great. I did my best. Today, she was a better player. We’ll speak with the team. Now they try to avoid and escape me because they see that it’s not really healthy to be around me right now.
Sabalenka, after failing to defend her Australian Open title last year (Madison Keys beat her), lost to Coco Gauff in the French Open final. But she successfully defended her crown at the US Open.
Elena Rybakina admits she thought she’d never reach a Grand Slam final again
Rybakina struggled a lot earlier in the 2025 season. She failed to progress beyond the fourth round of the Grand Slam events. But she managed to win the Strasbourg Open, later the Ningbo Open, and finally the WTA Finals.
I always believed I can come back to the level I was. We all have ups and downs. I thought, ‘Maybe I will never be in the final again or even get a trophy.’ But it’s all about the work. We’ve been putting a lot of work in with the team. They were also very supportive…in the moments when I was maybe not that positive…they would be helping out on this side. Of course, when you’re getting after some big wins against top players, and you start to believe more, you get more confidence. That was the kind of way.
Elena Rybakina said at the press conference
Rybakina lifted her career’s first Grand Slam title at the 2022 Wimbledon against Ons Jabeur. She made a Major semifinal for the first time since the 2024 Wimbledon. Also, it’s the second time she advanced to the Australian Open quarterfinals following the 2023 season.
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