Sabalenka wants – Aryna Sabalenka said she “wants to quit tennis” after a crushing 3-6, 7-5, 6-0 loss to Diana Shnaider at the French Open, describing a mental spiral after a late collapse—even as she confirmed she would sort out her emotions before returning.
Aryna Sabalenka didn’t just lose a match at the French Open—she sounded as if she wanted out of tennis altogether.
After her three-set quarterfinal defeat to Diana Shnaider, Sabalenka told reporters, “Just want to quit tennis right now,” adding, “We’ll see in a few days. Hopefully I’ll get back on track mentally.”
The collapse was sudden and brutal. Sabalenka held a one-set and two-break lead before getting blitzed in the third set, falling 3-6, 7-5, 6-0.
“I don’t know when’s the last time that happened to me where I lost 10 games in a row,” she said. “I guess mentally I got into a very deep, deep dark hole & I couldn’t get back mentally on track.”
Sabalenka’s comments turned the spotlight from the scoreboard to what happened inside her head as the match swung. She explained that she struggled to reverse her momentum once she felt herself sinking—something she has seen before in similar moments.
The loss echoed what Sabalenka experienced in last year’s French Open final against Coco Gauff. when she lost after blaming the wind and her 70 unforced errors rather than anything Gauff did. She also lost control of her emotions during that final. at times screaming. and looked to her team box for answers.
Against Shnaider, the emotional reaction showed up again. Sabalenka screamed loudly after losing a point in the third set.
“You know those rooms where you just go in, and you smash everything,” Sabalenka said. “Probably I will spend a whole day tomorrow over there destroying stuff. Maybe it will help, maybe not.”
She tied the unraveling to a chain reaction that started long before the final burst of points.
“I just think it’s combination of everything,” Sabalenka said. “You overthink, then you make easy mistakes, then you miss opportunities.”
Despite the defeat, Sabalenka will retain the No. 1 ranking.
Shnaider, meanwhile, moves on. She will face Maja Chwalińska in the semifinals on Thursday, while the other semifinal will pit Marta Kostyuk against Mirra Andreeva.
The sequence in Sabalenka’s own words is stark: a late lead turns into a deep mental hole, and once the third-set momentum flips, it doesn’t come back—setting up the question that hangs over her next few days: how quickly can she get herself “back on track mentally,” and what happens if she can’t?
Aryna Sabalenka Diana Shnaider French Open quarterfinal tennis emotions No. 1 ranking sports news