Aryna Sabalenka has once again been asked about her reaction to losing the French Open final, after reaching the fourth round at Wimbledon.
Facing Emma Raducanu, the Belarusian will have been well aware of the atmosphere she was walking into on Centre Court.
And, as someone who has wilted when facing the scrutiny of an opposing crowd, there was every chance that the 27-year-old could have buckled under the pressure.
Alas, she composed herself to twice come from a break down in both sets, winning the match in straight sets to reach the Wimbledon fourth round. Sabalenka was actually compared to Novak Djokovic with what she did during this impressive win.
Arguably more impressively, she also showed so much maturity in claiming such a hard-fought victory; and yet was brought right back to arguably her toughest moment in the post-match press conference.
Aryna Sabalenka compares French Open final to Wimbledon crowd
She was first asked about that British-supporting atmosphere, and the way she dealt with it compared to the French Open final, where her emotions got the better of her.
This is especially pertinent given how Sabalenka’s comments about Gauff went viral, with the reaction particularly volatile.
But, the world number one has now actually admitted that she is ‘happy’ about that moment, despite the backlash she received.
Aryna Sabalenka told reporters: ‘Yeah, as I said, I’m kind of happy for what happened to me at the French Open, because I had a chance to sit back and to look at everything in perspective and realise a lot of things about myself and I kind of like feel that I’m a different person and I learned from that difficult lesson.
‘And yeah, as you said, you know, because of the recent experience, I was just like, keep telling myself, like, no, you you just cannot let it happen again.
‘You just have to whatever happens on the court, you just have to be respectful, you have to you have to be calm, and you just have to keep trying and keep fighting and and I was just reminding myself that I was strong enough and I can handle this pressure.’
Aryna Sabalenka deserves to be allowed to move on from French Open final controversy
It has been 28 days since Sabalenka lost the French Open final to Coco Gauff, and yet just last night, the topic of her comments arose again.
The 2024 US and Australian Open champion made an ill-advised and emotional statement after one of the most crushing losses of her career, and the regret was instantly apparent in the aftermath.
To be fair to the young American, she was incredibly mature, and handled the situation with such poise and grace. She should be proud of her ability to defuse such a high-profile situation.
And, the way in which she went about accepting one of Sabalenka’s many apologies also deserves credit.
But the three-time Grand Slam winner has apologised, on numerous occasions, with the two clearly having already rebuilt their relationship.
It’s about time that this topic stopped cropping up, as it just makes Sabalenka relive a real low point in her career that she has already atoned for.
