Aryna Sabalenka swears at cameraperson and smashes racquet after US Open final defeat to Elena Rybakina
WTASunday, 13 September 2026 at 17:52
Aryna Sabalenka let her tempers fray during the final of the US Open with the former World No.1 now not able to seal the three-peat as she was beaten by the briliant Elena Rybakina who managed to scoop the title in New York.
Rybakina has now held on to every major other than the French Open in her career so far and continues to shine. While the Belarusian has another major final where she thinks what could've been.
Previously she has lost the US Open final to Coco Gauff and then came back to win it, but has since had multiple disheartening losses all while being the perceived top dog of women's tennis which is now not the case as she loses her last Grand Slam title she owns as well as the World No.1 spot.
She smashed a ball into the crowd during the final and then smashed her racquet off the bench the moment it was over as tempers flared. She also told a cameraperson to f*** off in a rant as she tried to deal with the defeat.
Aryna Sabalenka no tenía muchas ganas de que la filmen...
— Tiempo De Tenis (@Tiempodetenis1) September 12, 2026
🗣 "Fuck off" pic.twitter.com/S9fSAq43pq https://t.co/uy4X2hQZau
Sabalenka speaks on why this happened
Speaking afterwards, she described why this happened and what she was thinking in the moment and said it was the weight of the situation which annoyed her. She has had issues before dealing with this after defeats. So this is just another episode.
This of course a stark change to Rybakina who is obviously more timid and apart from the odd outburst at her time is quite cool, calm and collected.
“It’s really tough to control your emotions when you lose in the final of the Grand Slam and when you were trying to go for three-peat,” she said. “So I just wanted to let it go, because if I would hold it inside, right now or here or there on the court, I wouldn’t be able to say a word or I would just go not really nice over there. So I just wanted to let all of that aggression and disappointment go outside.”
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She was happy with the tournament though and will use it as motivation and fuel she admitted. She said that in reality she can only come back stronger.
“Overall I should be happy with the level I played, and there’s lots of things to take from this tournament,” she said. “As experience shows, that I only come back stronger, and all of these lessons this season definitely already made me stronger, but definitely going to motivate me for the next year to do better job.”
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Samuel Gill is the Chief Content Officer (CCO) of TennisUpToDate.com, a role he has held since 2020. He is responsible for editorial governance across the platform, including setting content standards, overseeing accuracy and consistency, and guiding long-term editorial strategy. Since joining, he has contributed more than 10,000 articles and editorial pieces across the TennisUpToDate network, playing a central role in the daily operation and development of the site.
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- "This of course a stark change to Rybakina who is obviously more timid..." That just may be the dumbest thing ever written about Lena. For a CCO, Mr. Gill seems to have either made an error in judgement -- or needed filler for this article -- to say something so ridiculous.
mandoist13-09-2026 - “The way I like to put it – no disrespect to anybody – is that this is her house, and all the other girls are just guests, and it’s time for them to go home” Well now... seems John Stacy has made a complete ass of himself. Doubt he'll be receiving any invitations to Lena's "house" any time soon.mandoist13-09-2026
- I am sorry, but Sabalenka has NO EXCUSE for her despicable behaviour. She lacks self and mouth control! The message is being sent but Saba isn't getting it! She is full of arrogance and pride. Hopefully, after this defeat she will be on the way to becoming a humble lady LIKE ELENA! I hope she never regains the world No. 1 until she develops some humility.Rapunzel13-09-2026
- Sabalenka began showing signs of her game gradually 'changing' since last season. I predicted her fascination with posting endless Selfies, participating in commercial media distractions and constant Social Media nonsense could impact her in a negative way. Her off-court Life was sure to interfere with her performace level. Visions of Raducanu, Giorgi, Bouchard come to mind. The Final yesterday was a weird case of polar-opposites. Sabalenka and Rybakina could not be any more different in personalities! Saba often portrays a somewhat fake persona, including her Phony Screaming. Her usual habit of acting like the nice girl with a sense of humor is a misconception. People take her lack of intellect as "cute" and "funny". So anyway... yesterday viewers witnessed that Fake Scream be reduced to a whimper and sometimes no vocal gymnastics at all once she knew the jig was up. We all saw her look into the camera post-match and say "F... You". Also, pretty hard to not see Saba making untoward facial expressions, rolling her eyes, etc., behind Rybakina while on the podium. Elena Rybakina, on the other hand, was her usual 'in-control' self as she spoke clearly and calmly, without making faces nor any ill-will toward anyone = 100% Class Act. Lena appeared more than aware of Saba's sour attitude and made a point of not looking in her direction most of the time. FWIW: I have never -- not ever -- heard Sabalenka make any sounds on practice courts. So it is indeed a nonsensical ruse as she thinks (incorrectly) it affects opponents. It does not. In fact, as was the case yesterday, I saw Lena occasionally take a side-eye glance at Saba on her way to the bench... as if to calculate her emotions. Saba is actually a very easy 'read'.mandoist13-09-2026
- WTA really, really hates this sort of thing. They surely are satisfied to make believe no such thing happens (or happened).mandoist13-09-2026
- WTA and ATP cannot even make their dope testing equal and precise across the board. They sure as hell cannot escape a stituation they themselves made over the ridiculous "penalty" of omitting a player's country flag. Nothing regarding which flags to display (or not) should be a Thing. It proves nothing; solves nothing. If anything, all it did was cause stress, tension, and even outbursts between players in the WTA locker room. Let's not even start with the asinine practice of not shaking hands at the net with "the enemy". There seems to be a general lack of intelligence behind Pro Tennis administrations' Closed Doors. .mandoist13-09-2026
- Big Babe Tennis! Hoping for a good final.DaveyWavey12-09-2026
- Director needs to return to his old "job" at the Australia Open. He's clueless in NYC.mandoist12-09-2026
- You keep writing ridiculous crap... why are you even watching tennis?mandoist12-09-2026
- They probably have a very good reason for this. I do not get it. Annoying that it finishes so late
AceOfBase12-09-2026
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