World number one Iga Swiatek was spotted fighting back tears after being knocked out of the US Open in the quarter-final.
The five-time Grand Slam winner slumped to a 6-1, 6-4 defeat to sixth seed Jessica Pegula in New York.
Having won the French Open back in July, Swiatek was looking to add to her trophy collection this year by winning a second US Open title.
She has already won the tournament once back in 2022 but could not make it past the home favourite this time around.
And the Polish star was clearly devastated by her exit.
The 23-year-old was seen with tears in her eyes as she was treated by a physio following the tough game.
She had suffered a similarly difficult exit in the third round of Wimbledon not long ago when she lost to Yulia Putintseva, in a result which had ended a 21-match winning streak.
And the Paris 2024 Olympics brought similar pain as she was forced to settle for a bronze medal after losing to eventual champion Aryna Sabalenka in the semi-finals.
Speaking to the media after her defeat in the US, she was still visibly upset by the result as she was quizzed about what he expectations for the competition had been.
She spoke about the pressure of heading into Grand Slams as a favourite and explained how she was careful about the expectations she placed upon herself.
When you go to a tournament, they want to know what my goal is, to win the final, the semifinal and it’s just not that. Those are not my goals when I go to a tournament,” she said.
She added: “I remember how it was last year, and, you know, I’m not going to expect myself to win all the time. I’m focusing more on work.
And it’s more of an answer, because when I talk to you guys, because everybody always talks about results right away when you go into a tournament, they want to know what my goal is, I don’t know, to win the final, the semifinal, and that’s not really the case, you know.
Those are not my goals when I go into a tournament. That’s my answer, because I want to explain that I don’t expect results from myself.
“I expect more that I’m going to work, I’m going to face some problems and work on them, and that’s it. I always try to have lower expectations, because I know that, like, any of us can win this tournament, and it’s not going to be easy, you know.
And then, I feel like when I have high expectations, I never perform well. So I try to lower them.
“It’s not that they’re just low, you know, because it’s hard to have low expectations when everybody’s expecting something from you, and you kind of know that you might have a match to play well.”
For Pegula, it marks the first time ever that the American has made it past the quarter-final of any Grand Slam.
She now goes on to face Karolina Muchova in the semi-final where the home crowd will be willing her on.
The 30-year-old was absolutely ecstatic about her achievement, admitting just how much it meant to her to finally reach this stage.
“I have been here so many freaking times,” she reflected after the game on court. “I just kept losing, but to great players, players who went on to win the tournament.
Finally, finally I can say I’m a grand slam semi-finalist.
“To do it against the number one in the world is crazy, I knew I could do it, I was able to take advantage of some things she wasn’t doing very well early on and that carried through.”
