Caroline Wozniacki Backs Aryna Sabalenka Amid Mentality Criticism After Recent Tough Defeats: “We Expect Her to Win Everything But She’s Human”

Aryna Sabalenka will be seen in action during the North American hard-court swing. The Belarusian ace has won three titles from four finals this year but has not yet reached a final since completing the Sunshine Double with her win over Coco Gauff at the Miami Open.

During the clay swing, Sabalenka made two quarterfinals, at the Madrid Open (won last year) and the French Open (lost the final last year), while at the Italian Open, her run ended in the third round. Then, during the grass swing, the four-time Grand Slam singles champion lost in the semifinals of the Berlin Open and in the fourth round of Wimbledon.

Sabalenka was devastated after her French Open upset. And after her Wimbledon exit, many questioned whether any mentality issues led to her defeats in the recent matches. But Caroline Wozniacki, during her interview with Tennis365, came to Sabalenka’s defense, saying one must not expect the World No.1 to reach every final and win titles.

No, I think it’s hard, right? We expect so much from her. We expect her to just get to the finals easy every week and win everything, but she’s human, as well. There’s a lot of players out there who are working hard every day, who are following her and seeing every single movement she makes on court. It’s difficult. As humans, we will go up and down a little bit.

At Wimbledon, Sabalenka suffered defeat at the hands of Naomi Osaka, which was her first straight-set loss in a Major since the 2020 US Open. The win helped Osaka improve her head-to-head record to 2-3, plus it was also her first victory over Sabalenka after three consecutive defeats this year.

I think Naomi played extremely well. I think she deserved to win that match, just with the tennis that she played. I think it was the best tennis I’ve seen from her in a while. Sometimes, you’ve just got to say congratulations [to the opponent], and I hope that she is enjoying a little bit of vacation and enjoying just being away from the court a little bit.

Caroline Wozniacki added

Wozniacki, the former World No.1 and the winner of the 2018 Australian Open, is convinced that Sabalenka will rediscover her form during the hardcourt swing. Sabalenka is next scheduled to play at the Canadian Open.

Aryna Sabalenka’s former coach, Dmitry Tursunov, thinks she lacks strong rivals

Aryna Sabalenka‘s ex-coach, Dmitry Tursunov, has also commented on the reigning US Open champion’s recent struggles. During his interview with Championat, Tursunov, who coached Sabalenka between 2018 and 2020, said her ex-protegee lacks strong rivals on the tour, which perhaps led to her recent inconsistency.

She’s missing consistently strong rivals on the women’s Tour. If, for example, Elena Rybakina had maintained the same level of consistency over the past three or four years, she’d be right there alongside Aryna. Instead, we see these ups and downs from her – sometimes she’s playing, sometimes she’s not.

Rybakina, earlier this year, upset Sabalenka in the Australian Open final to win her career’s second Grand Slam title. Later, she reached the Indian Wells final and lost the title to Sabalenka. Then in Stuttgart, Rybakina clinched the title by defeating Karolina Muchova, but since then, she has not made a semifinal.

Last year on the North American hardcourt swing, Sabalenka skipped the Canadian Open and lost to Rybakina in the quarterfinals of the Cincinnati Masters, but successfully defended her title at the US Open by defeating home favorite Amanda Anisimova. Sabalenka could end up losing her No.1 ranking if she fails to defend her title in the New York Major.

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