Aryna Sabalenka, the world No. 1, delivered a candid and emotional reaction following her third straight Wimbledon semi-final defeat, expressing her frustration with both the tournament and her opponent, Amanda Anisimova. The Belarusian star fell short in a tense three-set thriller, losing 6-4, 4-6, 6-4, and later admitted she currently has a “hate relationship” with the All England Club.
After taking some time to gather herself post-match, Sabalenka reflected on the emotional toll of repeatedly coming up short at the final stages of Wimbledon. “Losing sucks, you know?” she said. “Every time you feel like this is the end of your life. You get so close to your dream, and then it slips away again.”
Sabalenka, who was banned from competing in 2022 and later missed another edition due to injury, said the repeated setbacks at Wimbledon have made the tournament particularly difficult for her emotionally. “I hope one day I can turn it around and have a love relationship with Wimbledon,” she added.
While Sabalenka acknowledged Anisimova’s aggressive and effective performance, calling her a “deserving winner,” she didn’t shy away from criticizing her rival’s on-court behavior. In the second set, Sabalenka accused Anisimova of prematurely celebrating a point before it was officially over. “She was already celebrating. I thought it was too early,” Sabalenka said, adding that the moment made her “really angry” and fueled a temporary comeback.
Anisimova responded by claiming she hadn’t been celebrating, attributing the noise to a “long grunt,” but the tension didn’t end there. Sabalenka also took issue with Anisimova not offering an apology after winning a key point off a net cord. “She barely got that point, and I was like, you don’t want to say sorry?” said Sabalenka. “It’s on her if she didn’t feel like it. She just really wanted to win that badly.”
Despite the raw emotion and post-match drama, Sabalenka remains hopeful that she’ll eventually conquer Wimbledon. But for now, the relationship remains strained — a stark contrast to her dominance on other surfaces and her top ranking in the women’s game.
