Emotional scenes involving Arina Sabalenka from Belarus occurred during the women's singles final of the US Open, which took place on the 14th day of the tournament at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in New York. The match was against Elena Rybakina from Kazakhstan.
After being denied the opportunity to achieve a historic consecutive triumph at the US Open, she smashed her racket on the court while Elena Rybakina celebrated the victory with a score of 6-4, 5-7, 6-2 nearby.
After Rybakina secured the decisive winning point, the broadcast camera followed her as she greeted the public, before switching to Sabalenka, who was sitting on the bench and smashing her racket on the court, throwing it aside.
Later, Sabalenka also criticized the operator who was trying to capture her emotions after the loss. Having won the title, Rybakina not only prevented Sabalenka from achieving 'consecutive triumphs' at the US Open.
Furthermore, when Rybakina reaches the world number one ranking on Monday, she will displace Sabalenka from the top spot, as Sabalenka held the number one position for 99 consecutive weeks.
Commenting on the game, Sabalenka told reporters: 'I am obviously not very happy with the level I showed today, but she served incredibly. She played very aggressively, she played tennis excellently. Yes, today she was simply the better player than me.'
When asked about her new ranking as number two, which might free her from constant pressure, she replied: 'I think that in any case, when you get there, you have a goal on your back. It doesn't matter if you are number 1, 2, 3, or 4. I will just continue to work hard and improve my tennis, my level. I hope I win even more tournaments.'
The outgoing number one boldly challenged Rybakina, asking her to beat her 99-week reign in the WTA rankings. She said with a laugh: '99? Well, that's amazing. We'll see if Elena can beat me in this. If she keeps playing like this, then yes, I have problems.'
Rybakina debuts at world number one on Monday, ending Sabalenka's second period of dominance. Her first period at the top was significantly shorter—only eight weeks in 2023. The loss at the 2026 US Open means that Sabalenka finished the Grand Slam without a title for the first time since 2022.
This was Sabalenka's last chance to win a Grand Slam title, which she had won at least once a year since 2023. That was when Sabalenka won her first major title at the Australian Open in 2023, where she defeated Rybakina in the final.
