“Today I Wasn’t World No.1”: Sabalenka Confronts Hard Truth after Wimbledon Loss to Osaka

Photo credit: Shaun Brooks/CameraSport

2026 has not been the Grand Slam season World No.1 Aryna Sabalenka envisioned.

Starting the year with four major titles to her name—all won since the beginning of 2023—the 28-year-old looked poised to further cement her status as the dominant force in women’s tennis.

Instead, she has struggled to get over the finish line. Elena Rybakina denied her at the Australian Open, then her bid for a first Roland Garros title ended abruptly with a third-set bagel at the hands of Diana Shnaider.

At Wimbledon, where she arrived as the overwhelming favorite, Sabalenka fell to Naomi Osaka on Sunday in a clash of four-time major champions.

“Obviously I’m not happy with the way I played, but yeah, she overpowered me,” Sabalenka said after the 6-2, 7-6(2) loss, which snapped her streak of 21 consecutive Grand Slam tiebreak wins and ended her run of 14 straight major quarterfinal appearances. “I felt like it was an incredible level from her. I tried my best.”

Osaka had lost her previous three meetings with Sabalenka this season but dominated their fifth career encounter to earn her first victory over a reigning World No.1 at a major.

“With every game we would play, I would feel worse, she would feel better,” Sabalenka said. “She would just go for her shots freely. I wouldn’t.”

Though she will leave Wimbledon still holding the No.1 ranking—extending her streak to 91 consecutive weeks at the top—it offers little consolation. At this stage of her career, only trophies satisfy.

“Level-wise, today I wasn’t World No.1,” she said. “Yesterday I was World No.1. I don’t even want to think about the rankings at this point. I just want to go, get completely drunk, forget about tennis, and try to get in better shape.”

A few cocktails might help in the short term, but the long-term solution is more complicated. Sabalenka will have to continue evolving her game, finding the extra polish needed to consistently finish the job at the biggest tournaments. As the saying goes, if you’re not widening the gap between yourself and the field, the field is closing the gap on you.

For Sabalenka, who sought the help of a sports therapist after her Roland Garros disappointment, Sunday’s defeat is another painful reminder of just how difficult it is to win major titles—even for someone who has already won four.

“I fucked it up this year. Next year I’ll try to do better,” she said.

The pressure will only intensify heading into the year’s final major. Sabalenka has won her last 13 matches at Flushing Meadows and will return to New York as the two-time defending US Open champion.

She has won 45 of her last 48 matches at the hard-court majors dating back to the start of 2023, claiming four titles in seven events. But as 2026 has shown, past performance is no guarantee of future success.

To get back to winning majors, Sabalenka will first have to rebuild her confidence.

“I’ll get back stronger,” she said. “We’ll start building everything from scratch for the next one.”