“The worst grunt ever!”- Aryna Sabalenka comes under fire as fans criticize her dropping points against Coco Gauff at the 2024 Australian Open semifinals

Aryna Sabalenka crushes young talent Coco Gauff as the defending champion reaches the finals of the 2024 Australian Open.

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Aryna Sabalenka‘s loud grunts during her semifinal match against Coco Gauff at the Rod Laver Arena on Thursday (January 25) at the Australian Open again frustrated the fans. 

Sabalenka, known for being one of the players who grunt a lot, was finding it difficult to get points during the first set as they tied it 6-6, and it went into a tie-breaker to decide the winner of the set.

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Their clash is the rematch of the 2023 US Open final. Sabalenka prevailed in the tie-break, winning the set 6-7(7-2). However, despite leading the set 5-2, the Belarusian couldn’t capitalize much on the lead.

Gauff played aggressively in the next couple of games and forced the tie-breaker, but it was in vain as she lost it. The defending champion dominated in the tie-breaker and won it easily to claim the first set, and made things difficult for the teenager.

Aryna Sabalenka’s grunts irritate the netizens a great deal

As mentioned above, Aryna Sabalenka is one of those players who grunt a lot, especially during serving. Usually, such loud noise from the players frustrates the spectators a lot.

Aryna Sabalenka
Coco Gauff, Aryna Sabalenka (Images via X)

And the second seed was finding it tough to take advantage of the lead during the first set, fans on social media started criticizing her, saying Sabalenka should focus more on her game and less on her grunts.

Sharing a wide spectrum of reactions online, here’s how they reacted to Sabalenka’s grunts while she played against Coco Gauff:

https://twitter.com/ZimThamizh/status/1750450567401644294?s=20

Sabalenka walked onto the court as the favorite to win. She won the tie 7-6(2), 6-4 in a close-fought contest that lasted nearly 2 hours on the Rod Laver Arena. The Belarusian was made to work on the match point as well and the American fired a perfect forehand down the line to make it 40-40.

In the US Open final, the 19-year-old defeated Sabalenka in three sets, 2-6, 6-3, 6-2, and so the latter is doing her best to take revenge. They have faced each other six times before this match, with Gauff leading 4-2.

Prior to the semifinal, Gauff almost lost the match against Ukraine’s Martha Kostyuk but won the match after comfortably winning the third set. On the other hand, Sabalenka has won all her previous matches in straight sets. She even registered her maiden double bagel at a Grand Slam event against Ukraine’s Lesia Tsurenko.

Meanwhile, the second semifinal will be between Ukraine’s Dayana Yastremska and China’s Qinwen Zheng. Both of them will be playing their first semifinal at a Grand Slam stage.

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