{"id":637812,"date":"2026-05-12T03:46:23","date_gmt":"2026-05-12T03:46:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/637812\/"},"modified":"2026-05-12T03:46:23","modified_gmt":"2026-05-12T03:46:23","slug":"aryna-sabalenka-sends-25-word-message-after-shock-loss","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/637812\/","title":{"rendered":"Aryna Sabalenka sends 25-word message after shock loss"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Aryna Sabalenka has shared a message on social media after she suffered a surprise early exit at the 2026 Italian Open.<\/p>\n<p>The four-time Grand Slam champion lost 2-6, 6-3, 7-5 to world No 27 Sorana Cirstea in the third round of the WTA 1000 event at the Foro Italico on Saturday.<\/p>\n<p>The world No 1\u2019s defeat came after she overcame 53rd-ranked Barbora Krejcikova 6-2, 6-3 in her opening match in Rome.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.tennis365.com\/tag\/aryna-sabalenka\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Sabalenka<\/a> is yet to win the Italian Open, and she now holds a 13-8 record across eight appearances at the prestigious clay-court tournament. Her best result in Rome came in 2024, when she lost in the final to Iga Swiatek.<\/p>\n<p>In a post on her Instagram account, Sabalenka commented on the end of her campaign in the Italian capital.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNot every story ends the way you want, but every chapter teaches you something,\u201d she wrote.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cRome, thank you for the love. Ciao bella, see you soon.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>WTA Tour News<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.tennis365.com\/tennis-news\/aryna-sabalenka-injury-nightmare-french-open\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Aryna Sabalenka facing injury nightmare that could plunge her Grand Slam dream into doubt<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.tennis365.com\/tennis-news\/everything-aryna-sabalenka-said-shock-italian-open-rome-loss-sorana-cirstea\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Everything Aryna Sabalenka said after shock Italian Open loss as she makes injury confession<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Want more from Tennis365? Add us as\u00a0<a rel=\"noopener nofollow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/preferences\/source?q=tennis365.com\" target=\"_blank\">a preferred source on Google to your favourites list<\/a>\u00a0for tennis coverage you can trust.<\/p>\n<p>In her press conference after losing to Cirstea, Sabalenka revealed she had not been feeling at her best physically during the match.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI feel like I didn\u2019t play well from the beginning till the end. I started really well, but then I kind of dropped the level,\u201d Sabalenka explained.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFelt like my body was limiting me from performing on the highest level. She stepped in and played incredible tennis. Didn\u2019t really give me much opportunities.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The Belarusian added: \u201cI\u2019d say that probably it\u2019s like my lower back, connected to the hip, which kind of like limiting me from the full rotation.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI guess we\u2019re just going to have some days off. We\u2019re going to spend it on recovery. That\u2019s the plan I believe for now.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Prior to her appearance in Rome, Sabalenka was upset by Hailey Baptiste in the quarter-finals of the Madrid Open.<\/p>\n<p>Sabalenka holds a 27-3 record in 2026, having secured titles in Brisbane, Indian Wells and Miami, while she was a runner-up at the Australian Open.<\/p>\n<p>The 28-year-old is not scheduled to play again until the French Open, which will begin on Sunday 24 May. She will be seeking her maiden title at the Paris Grand Slam.<\/p>\n<p>READ NEXT: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tennis365.com\/tennis-features\/italian-open-2026-withdrawals-retirements-22-players-out-arthur-fils\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Italian Open withdrawals and retirements: 22 stars out as Arthur Fils joins list<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Aryna Sabalenka has shared a message on social media after she suffered a surprise early exit at the&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":637813,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[72],"tags":[99,428],"class_list":["post-637812","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tennis","tag-sports","tag-tennis"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/637812","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=637812"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/637812\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/637813"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=637812"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=637812"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=637812"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}