2023-11-06 01:16:00
Aryna Sabalenka lost to Iga Świątek 3:6, 2:6 in the semi-final of the WTA Finals tournament. Thus, the current number one in the women’s ranking says goodbye to Cancun. She bids a weak farewell following an average match. Once once more this season, Sabalenka proved to be weaker in a key match. Her transformation in recent months has been clear, but still incomplete.
Watch the video The former number 1 believes that Iga Świątek can transfer everything from clay to grass. Coach Iga: I agree, absolutely
Good beginnings of a bad one
The Tournament of Champions was not Aryna Sabalenka’s best event. It’s true that things started to go spectacularly, with a clear win over Maria Sakkari. The Greek only won a game. But then, from the Belarusian woman’s point of view, it got worse and worse.
First, a defeat once morest Jessica Pegula, and then a very difficult, interrupted match once morest Elena Rybakina. Ultimately, she snatched the victory from Rybakina, but in both matches she played well below her capabilities. In the match once morest Świątek, we saw a similar face of the leader of the ranking.
What face is this? Unreliable serve, many mistakes, bad decisions, excessive aggression on the court. Sabalenka very rarely releases her hand and if her sight is set incorrectly, there are dozens of mistakes. There was no element in her game that might take her to a higher level.
This probably caused frustration, which led to the destruction of the racket during the match once morest the Pole, and many gestures of irritation and bad emotions written on the tennis player’s face.
A bittersweet season
On Monday, Aryna Sabalenka may lose her lead in the WTA ranking. It all depends on whether Iga Świątek will be able to defeat Jessica Pegula in the final of the Tournament of Champions. The Pole took revenge on the Belarusian in a beautiful way for last year’s failure at the WTA Finals 2022 in Fort Worth – also in the semi-final.
Sabalenka, however, has a bigger problem than losing number one. From the moment she became the first female tennis player in the world, during the US Open, she has been playing – with the exception of the mentioned match once morest Sakkari – below her potential. As if this backpack full of expectations and pressure related to the new role weighed too much for her.
She went into the New York final once morest Coco Gauff already aware that following the tournament she would take Iga Świątek’s place in the WTA ranking. This circumstance probably contributed to Sabalenka’s defeat in the title match in New York. Then came an average performance in Beijing, where she lost to Rybakina. Now in Cancun she once once more performed below expectations, especially her own.
This season is clearly bittersweet for Aryna Sabalenka. On the one hand, no one doubts that the tennis player from Minsk has reached the level she always dreamed of. She won the first Grand Slam singles title in her career (Australian Open). She did not reach the semi-finals in any of the four Grand Slam tournaments. After the US Open, she deservedly became the new number one.
What’s next?
The problem is that he may soon lose his position in the ranking, and he still cannot win the most important matches. With the exception of Melbourne, Aryna Sabalenka has lost in the last year: in the final of the WTA Finals 2022, the semi-final of Roland Garros (with the match ball), the semi-final of Wimbledon (being on the verge of winning), the final of the US Open (despite winning the first set) and the semi-final of the WTA Finals 2023 .
There is a clear mental problem when Sabalence comes to the decisive matches, and following the US Open she is generally unable to find her place on the court. Perhaps losing the lead in the ranking will even end favorably for her, because the pressure will drop and expectations will be lower once more. But are you sure?
The Belarusian will start the next season from a new position. In January, she will defend her Grand Slam title for the first time in her career. In Melbourne, she has as many as 2,000 points to defend and is aware that any stumble may cause Świątek to fall even further behind. And then there will be tournaments in the USA, where she also achieved great results in the spring resultswhich, according to the ranking rules, are best repeated.
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