{"id":450020,"date":"2026-01-31T18:16:14","date_gmt":"2026-01-31T18:16:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/450020\/"},"modified":"2026-01-31T18:16:14","modified_gmt":"2026-01-31T18:16:14","slug":"really-upset-sabalenka-reeling-from-ao-final-defeat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/450020\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Really upset’: Sabalenka reeling from AO final defeat"},"content":{"rendered":"

Aryna Sabalenka is struggling to digest more grand slam heartbreak after her upset loss to Elena Rybakina in the Australian Open final.<\/p>\n

World No.1 Sabalenka was up a service break in the deciding set before she was overrun in a 6-4 4-6 6-4 defeat at Rod Laver Arena on Saturday night.<\/p>\n

It left the four-time major winner searching for answers to her near-misses in her post-match press conference at Melbourne Parkl.<\/p>\n

\"Sabalenka\"<\/p>\n

Aryna Sabalenka tries to rationalise her defeat at the post-final press conference. (Joel Carrett\/AAP PHOTOS)<\/p>\n

“I was really upset with myself, I would say, because once again I had opportunities,” Sabalenka said.<\/p>\n

“I played great until certain point, and then I couldn’t resist that aggression that she had on court today.<\/p>\n

“I was just really upset with myself, but I think overall I played great tennis here in Australia.<\/p>\n

“Even in this final I feel like I played great. I was fighting. I did my best, and today she was a better player.”<\/p>\n

Sabalenka reached the last-four at all four of last year’s grand slams, winning the US Open and losing the final at the Australian and French Opens.<\/p>\n

\"Sabalenka.\"<\/p>\n

Sabalenka was left to digest her second-straight Australian Open final defeat. (Joel Carrett\/AAP PHOTOS)<\/p>\n

“Overall, it was much better than last year’s two finals I lost,” the 27-year-old said.<\/p>\n

“Level-wise and decision-making and the way that the mentality was throughout the whole match, I was still there, I was ready to fight.<\/p>\n

“I knew that she’s not going to give it easily to me. So overall, I made huge improvement on that, and I still lost it.<\/p>\n

“But it’s okay. I feel like I’m moving towards the right direction.”<\/p>\n

Sabalenka remains hell-bent on adding further grand slam titles to her list of honours despite her deflating loss.<\/p>\n

“I don’t want to think about tennis, but ambitions are still the same,” she said.<\/p>\n

\"Sabalenka\"<\/p>\n

The world No.1 Aryna Sabalenka with her runner’s-up trophy on the Rod Laver Arena. (Joel Carrett\/AAP PHOTOS)<\/p>\n

“Keep fighting, keep working hard, keep putting myself out there, and try my best if I’ll have another chance in the final.<\/p>\n

“Just go out there and do my best. Then just try the same, you know? Try to see how many of them I can get.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Aryna Sabalenka is struggling to digest more grand slam heartbreak after her upset loss to Elena Rybakina in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":450021,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[4909,64,63,232744,20336,44,221809],"class_list":["post-450020","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-aryna-sabalenka","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-australian-open-final","tag-elena-rybakina","tag-news","tag-rod-laver-arena"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/450020","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=450020"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/450020\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/450021"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=450020"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=450020"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=450020"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}