LONDON :Aryna Sabalenka said she did not want to “face that hate again” as she praised her Wimbledon conqueror Amanda Anisimova on Thursday – in stark contrast to her attitude following the French Open final when she was anything but complimentary about Coco Gauff.
A month ago Sabalenka said Gauff’s Roland Garros triumph was less a result of the American’s quality and more through the Belarusian’s mistakes and even though she apologised soon after, she was given a rough ride in the court of social media.
On Thursday she lost a great semi-final battle 6-4 4-6 6-4 at the All England Club and, having found more time to compose herself, said of Anisimova: “She was the better player.
“I have to say that she was more brave today. Maybe when I was just trying to stay in the point she was playing more aggressive. Sometimes I was just stopping my arms, making like mistakes which I shouldn’t be making.
“I should have been a little bit more brave and remembered that I’m on the top of the rankings. At some point at the match I forgot about that.”
Asked how she was able to sound so philosophical in defeat, in contrast to Roland Garros, Sabalenka laughed and said: “I just don’t want to face that hate again.
“I mean, losing sucks. You always feel like you want to die, you don’t want to exist anymore and this is the end of your life. But then you sit there a little bit and you think about what you could have done differently. You see that the other player performed much better. You can see things better.
“Even now I took a bit more time before doing my media just so I can be Aryna, not that crazy person at Roland Garros.”
The world number one won last year’s U.S. Open then lost in the finals of the Australian and French Opens. A win on Thursday would have matched Serena Williams’ 2014-15 run of contesting four successive major finals, albeit the American won all four.
It was looking good as she took a tense second set and broke serve in the first game of the third, only for Anisimova to fight back and win.
That made it three semi-final defeats at Wimbledon in the last five years – with her absence in the other two due to injury and the club’s ban of Russians and Belarusians in 2022 due to Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.
“It’s tough to think about that,” she said. I’ve lost three semis, three tough ones. Then I was banned, then I was injured. So I have really more of a hate relationship right now with Wimbledon, but I really hope that one day I will turn it around and have a love relationship.”
