Aryna Sabalenka appeared to subtly criticize her fellow WTA players while admitting that she was pretending to not be too disappointed after a surprising exit from the Dubai tournament.
Following her successful defense of the Australian Open title, Sabalenka returned to the court at the WTA 1000 event in Dubai. In her match against Donna Vekic, Sabalenka initially had a lead and seemed poised to win in straight sets. However, Vekic came back from a set down to defeat the second-seeded Belarusian 6-7 (5) 6-3 6-0.
Not only was Sabalenka’s loss to the 31st-ranked Vekic unexpected, but the fact that she lost 12 of the last 13 games made it even more surprising. Despite this, Sabalenka appeared to be in good spirits during the post-match interview. When a reporter commented on her positive attitude, Sabalenka responded with a humorous but intriguing statement.
“I’m pretending. I’ve been on the tour for a while. I’ve seen some players who act… unfavorably towards their opponents and act sad. I’ve moved past that stage,” Sabalenka said.
In the first set, Vekic initially broke Sabalenka’s serve but Sabalenka managed to turn the tide and take a 5-3 lead. However, Vekic fought back and saved multiple set points to force a tie-break. Sabalenka ultimately won the first set.
With a set advantage, Sabalenka continued her momentum by breaking Vekic’s serve in the second set. However, Vekic then won 12 of the next 13 games to eliminate the second-seeded Sabalenka from the tournament.
After the match, Sabalenka admitted that she never felt comfortable playing against Vekic and acknowledged that the Croatian player is always a challenging opponent for her.
“I feel like the conditions here don’t suit me well. The court is particularly challenging for me,” Sabalenka said.
“Throughout the match, I was leading and winning. I won the first set and had a break. But I didn’t feel like I was ahead. My performance today was very poor. She also didn’t play her best. Towards the end, she became more aggressive because she saw that I wasn’t playing well. It was a matter of luck rather than skill. The level of play was simply not there.”
Vekic faced a break point while trailing 7-6 (5) 2-0 in the third set. She managed to save the break point and staged an impressive comeback to defeat Sabalenka.
Following the match, Vekic, a former world No. 19, revealed that she didn’t have high expectations for the tournament but always believed in her ability to defeat Sabalenka.
“I never gave up. I always believed that I could win. I kept fighting,” Vekic said.
“To be honest, I didn’t have high expectations for Dubai. I treated this week as a semi-vacation. I can say that I spent more time on the beach than on the court. Maybe that’s a good approach going forward.”
Vekic now holds a 6-2 head-to-head record against Sabalenka. After their first six meetings, Vekic had a 5-1 advantage. However, Sabalenka defeated Vekic on her way to winning the Australian Open in January 2023. Now, 13 months later, Vekic has exacted her revenge for that loss by defeating Sabalenka in Dubai.
According to the Source tennisworldusa.org