Aryna Sabalenka said she ‘wanted to quit tennis’ in the wake of her shock French Open quarter-final defeat to Diana Shnaider.
The world number one, who is still seeking a maiden title at Roland-Garros, fell to a 6-3 5-7 0-6 loss on Court Philippe-Chatrier despite leading by a set and a double break at one point.
With defending champion Coco Gauff, four-time champion Iga Świątek and Australian Open winner Elena Rybakina already out, the draw had opened up for Sabalenka – but she was unable to capitalise and must now turn her attention to Wimbledon.
Sabalenka laments mental collapse
“No thoughts, no emotions. I just want to quit tennis right now, but we’ll see in a few days. Hopefully I’ll get back on track mentally,” Sabalenka admitted in the post-match press conference.
“I feel I had very decent opportunities in the second set. I screwed up, and then she stepped in and she played great.
“I feel mentally I couldn’t really recover after the second set. I think that was the biggest mistake from me.
“I don’t know when the last time was that I lost 10 games in a row. I guess mentally I got into a very deep, dark hole over there and I just couldn’t get back on track mentally.
“I actually have to step back and try to find a solution, because I just am so tired of me losing some matches not in the best way just because I was overemotional.”
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Recurring meltdowns a problem
Sabalenka, who lost to Gauff in last year’s final after a similar meltdown, added: “I have been through so many things, and I overcome so many things.
“I just have to figure that little thing that is not working for me sometimes, and hopefully I can overcome it.
“I don’t know. I don’t know. I don’t know.
“You know those rooms where you go in and smash everything? Probably I will spend a whole day over there destroying stuff.”
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Windy conditions didn’t help
Strong wind was a factor throughout the match, with Sabalenka clearly frustrated by the decision not to close the roof – but the Belarusian refused to blame the conditions for her loss.
“I don’t know why they would keep the roof open when it was crazy windy,” she said.
“But how can I complain if for almost the whole match everything was working okay for me, and then it just slipped away?
“I feel like it was getting crazy maybe just because mentally I wasn’t really okay.
“I don’t know why they would keep it open. Even though I was winning, it was very dirty tennis. I don’t know how people could actually sit there and watch.
“And then at some point she stepped in and played unbelievable.”
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