Just In: Aryna Sabalenka shows true colours in emotional on-court interview after US Open scare
Aryna Sabalenka became “emotional” as she stormed back from a break down in the final set to beat Linda Noskova in a mouthwatering, high-quality showdown at the US Open. The world No. 1 has not lost a match in Flushing Meadows since 2023, but she admitted that she thought the match was over when Wimbledon champion Noskova took a 4-2 lead in the decider.
Sabalenka has suffered some brutal losses from winning positions this season, and it looked as though she was fearing the worst again when she got broken on a double fault. But the two-time defending champion battled back to win 7-6(1) 3-6 7-6(7) in a decisive match tiebreak.
Afterwards, the top seed was speechless. And the Sky Sports tennis team thought that Sabalenka became so emotional because she had finally managed to win one of those tough battles.
“Oh my god, guys, what a battle. What an incredible player she is,” Sabalenka told the Arthur Ashe Stadium crowd, struggling to find the words. “I’m speechless right now because I was pushing myself to the limit in this match, especially in the third set.
“I honestly thought, ‘That’s it, the match is over’. Probably that’s what helped me to kind of like… I don’t know, stay loose. Super happy to get this win. Super happy. It’s a tough match, tough battle.
“Thank you, guys for… Honestly, just for you guys being you. You’re amazing, and it’s always unbelievable playing in front of you all. Thank you for your support.”
At the French Open in June, Sabalenka blew a set and double-break lead against Diaana Shnaider in the quarters, losing the last 10 games in a row as she suffered a bruising 3-6 7-5 6-0 defeat. And at the recent Cincinnati Open, she lost a 5-1 lead in the first set tiebreak and a 4-1 lead in the second set to lose 7-6(7) 6-4 to unseeded Sara Bejlek.
This time around, the world No. 1 held her nerve to come from behind in the final set against Noskova and won both tiebreaks. She sealed victory with a second serve ace, and then said: “These kinds of matches, these kinds of tight tiebreaks, and these matches are such a high pressure are definitely kind of like boosting my confidence and my energy and my motivation.
“So I’m super glad that somehow I made that ace [on match point]. It was a very important point, and it just shows that I’m ready to fight and I’m happy to see that.”
Afterwards, Sky Sports presenter Gigi Salmon told viewers: “She seemed, Ayna Sabalenka, a little bit shell-shocked, a little bit emotional on court.” And pundit Chanda Rubin agreed, as she referenced the Belarusian’s ability to finally dig deep in those difficult moments.
“I mean, that match could have gone either way. She could have easily lost it to an opponent who was playing some great tennis. And I think as a player, when you’re out there, when you kind of accept that at a certain point in the match and it becomes less about the winning and losing, it just becomes about how you compete, how you hang in there, that’s what we saw from Sabalenka, and it’s been a long time coming,” Rubin said.
“I think all year we’ve kind of been waiting to see that fight, that just digging in and letting go of everything else external. I think she got there today, and that’s probably a little bit of what we saw in her face, and even in that on-court interview there.
