Fans Urge Aryna Sabalenka to Take Break After Shock Opening-Round Defeat in Wuhan – “She’ll Never Be the Same Again”

Aryna Sabalenka has won three titles so far in the 2026 season.

Fans Urge Aryna Sabalenka to Take Break After Shock Opening-Round Defeat in Wuhan – “She’ll Never Be the Same Again”

Aryna Sabalenka (Image via Vanguard News)

Aryna Sabalenka‘s Wuhan Open campaign ended in a disastrous fashion. For the second consecutive time, the Belarusian ace suffered an early-round exit.

On Wednesday (October 14), an unseeded Ann Li came from a set down to clinch a 3-6, 6-4, 7-6(5) victory over the three-time Wuhan Open champion in the opening round. Before the season’s last WTA 1000 event, Sabalenka played at the China Open, where Nikola Bartunkova knocked her out in the third round.

Sabalenka will next compete at the WTA Finals, which runs from November 8 to November 15 in Indian Wells. She is a two-time runner-up in the year-end championships, reaching the final in 2022 and 2025 and losing to Carolina Garcia and Elena Rybakina, respectively.

It was Rybakina who denied her the historic three-peat at the US Open. The Kazakh ace clinched a three-set win over Sabalenka, winning her second Grand Slam title of the season.

She beat Sabalenka in the Australian Open final, following which the 28-year-old completed the rare Sunshine Double by defeating Rybakina in Indian Wells and Coco Gauff in Miami, also winning her third title of the season, following her Brisbane International win.

Since beating Gauff, Sabalenka has reached the final only at the US Open. Before the New York Slam, she reached only one semifinal, at the Berlin Open.

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Fans are worried about Aryna Sabalenka after her Wuhan Open exit

Tennis fans are now urging Aryna Sabalenka to take a long break to regroup and recover mentally and physically. Not just the fans; even former players believe Sabalenka is distracted and that she has other things on her mind. Some fans even believe Sabalenka would be the same again.

Aryna Sabalenka (4)
Aryna Sabalenka (Image via People.com)

Check out their reactions here:

In Wuhan, defending champion Coco Gauff withdrew due to fatigue. Before her withdrawal, Gauff faced scathing criticism and racist abuse from online fans following the hindrance controversy during her third-round match against Sun Xinran at the China Open.

Ann Li reacts to her win over Aryna Sabalenka

En route to clinching her best win of the career, Li failed to convert her first nine match points. The victory marked her third top-10 win of her career and her second one of the season. Before Sabalenka, she beat Iga Swiatek in the third round of the Madrid Open.

Aryna Sabalenka
Aryna Sabalenka (Image via The Independent)

I think on some of those match points I was about to lose my mind. I was about to crash out. In the end, you just have to realize — I didn’t even play that bad. I didn’t play bad. She just played really well. So you have to play point by point. And I knew that if I stayed there, I could get into that situation again, which is all you can ask for.

Ann Li said at the press conference (H/T: WTATour.com)

The win helped Li progress to the third round of a WTA 1000 event for the fourth consecutive time. She scheduled her next match against Janice Tjen.

I think we’ve practiced a few times. She’s a great player. She likes to [use] variety as well, so it should be a really fun match. Physical wise, I feel pretty good.

Ann Li added

Li has never made it past the fourth round of a WTA 1000 event. Sabalenka, by contrast, is an 11-time champion at this level. In Wuhan, she failed to reach the semifinals for the first time in her career. She won the title here in her first three appearances, in 2018, 2019, and 2024.

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