Aryna Sabalenka explodes on court once again as she crashes out of WTA Finals

Kevin Palmer 14 Nov 2026 12:30 AM

Aryna Sabalenka at the WTA Finals

Aryna Sabalenka’s curious season had a conclusion that followed a familiar script, as she suffered another final set collapse to crash out of the WTA Finals after a defeat against Elina Svitolina.

The top seed in the end-of-season tournament has lived through a curious 10 months that has included some unexpected defeats and many of them have ended in a manner similar to this latest defeat against Svitolina.

Victory would have given Svitolina a place in the last four of the WTA Finals, but she came into this match trying to recover from the shock of losing 11 games in a row as she lost against Mirra Andreeva on Wednesday.

The Belarusian used some colourful language to describe her performance in that match, as she suggested she was a ‘f***ing loser’ following her 6-4, 6-0 loss to Andreeva.

Sabalenka struggled to contain her emotions as she lost the first set 6-3, but she managed to compose herself to get back into the match and clinch the second set 6-4.

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The momentum appeared to be with Sabalenka as she went into the final set, but she lost her cool once more and after Svitolina won a tense game at 2-1, she ran away with the set to clinch her place in the WTA Finals last four against Linda Noskova.

“It was an extremely tough match, especially mentally,” said Svitolina. “I was just trying to play one point at a time and find my game, find the fighting spirit until the end.

“It was up and down a bit with the game. But I was very happy I could stick to my game plan, with all the support, thank you so much. It was really great.

“This is the tournament where you bring everything to the table and try to really play every game as the last one. Yeah, here I am in the semifinals.”

While Svitolina could toast one of her best wins of the year against a player who had beaten her in their last five meetings, the concern for Sabalenka will be the manner of this latest defeat.

For a second match in a row, she failed to contain her frustrations and handed her opponent victory with a string of wild errors and this has been the story of her season.

At the French Open and Wimbledon, she lost matches that appeared to be in her grasp and she also displayed huge frustration after losing the US Open final against Elena Rybakina in September.

Sabalenka confirmed she is working with a sports psychologist once again prior to her first match at the WTA Finals and she has spoken openly about the demons she battles on court when pressure is applied.

The former world No 1, who will slip down to No 3 in the rankings after this defeat, now needs to spend the next few weeks trying to find a way to contain her emotions on court ahead of the 2027 season.

When the going gets tough, Sabalenka tends to hit the ball harder and that often leads to mistakes that hand victory to her rival on the other side of the net.

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This has happened time and again over the course of 2026, with the damage to her aura hard to repair after another alarming couple of defeats at the WTA Finals.

There is an old saying in tennis that the biggest space on a court for any player is between their ears and Sabalenka’s biggest opponent for much for this season has been on her side of the net.

Finding a solution to that problem has to be her priority before she returns to court in the new year.