WATCH: Aryna Sabalenka smashes racket and then dumps it in the garbage bin after US Open final
Aryna Sabalenka felt that the racket she used during her US Open final defeat to Coco Gauff did not bring her good fortune so she threw it in the dustbin after the match.
The reigning Australian Open champion went down in three sets against Gauff on Arthur Ashe Stadium on Saturday with her performance up and down throughout the match.
Sabalenka dominated early on with her power game unsettling her 19-year-old rival, but the American youngster started to come to grips with the punches and her scrambling resulted in the Belarusian losing her way.
The second seed cut a frustrated figure for most of the second and third sets and she even tried to switch things up by changing her racket several times, but she never managed to regain her spark.
In the end it wasn’t to be for the 25-year-old as Gauff won 2-6, 6-3, 6-2 to secure her first Grand Slam as she became the first American teenager since Serena Williams in 2001 to win the US Open.
After the match Sabalenka decided to get rid of the “bad energy” as she first smashed the racket into the ground before calmly walking over to a bin to dump it.
Oh wow. 😳
I never seen this.
Sabalenka smashing her racket after yesterday’s final loss to Coco Gauff ☹️pic.twitter.com/22kbpnfpau
— Olly 🎾🇬🇧 (@Olly_Tennis_) September 10, 2023
During the post-match press conference Sabalenka was asked what went wrong after such a brilliant opening set and replied: “I would say that in the first set, I was dealing with my emotions quite good. I was focused on myself, not on the crowd or the way she moved. I mean definitely she was moving just unbelievable today.
“But then in the second set, I probably started to overthink, and because of that, I start kind of like losing my power and she started moving better. I started missing a lot of easy shots.
“I mean, the good news is that it’s me against me. The bad one is that I’m still having these issues playing against myself. I would say sorry, but that’s okay. I’ll work harder, so next time I’m not going to get even a little bit tired on court, and so I’ll be better.”
Despite her defeat in the final, there were plenty of positives for Sabalenka to take out from her run at the US Open as she will become the women’s world No 1 for the first time in her career on Monday, overtaking Iga Swiatek.
