Sabalenka: I Fell Into a Very Deep, Dark Hole

By Richard Pagliaro | Wednesday, June 3, 2026
Photo credit: Robert Prange/Getty

The largest clay-court stage in the sport suddenly felt like a sink hole.

It swallowed up Aryna Sabalenka’s Roland Garros title dream.

Lefty Diana Shnaider rode her twisting topspin forehand and a wild win to surge through 10 straight games shocking Sabalenka 3-6, 7-5, 6-0 to reach her maiden major semifinal in a massive Roland Garros upset today.

Afterward, a shattered Sabalenka said she mentally collapsed during her 10-game spiral.

“Yeah, I don’t know when was the last time that happened to me that I lost 10 games in a row,” Sabalenka said. “I don’t know. I guess mentally I got into very deep, deep, dark hole over there, and I just couldn’t get back mentally on track.”

Less than six months after Sabalenka squandered a 3-0 lead in the final set, falling to Elena Rybakina 6-4, 4-6, 6-4 in a gut-wrenching Australian Open final, she was haunted by another major near-miss.

A year ago, a calm Coco Gauff mastered the elements and a volatile Sabalenka 6-7(5), 6-2, 6-4 in the 2025 French Open final to take a title that seemed to have Sabalenka’s finger prints all over it until she lost focus and control spraying 70 unforced errors amid an unruly wind.

Today, Sabalenka slapped 57 unforced errors—more than double Shnaider’s 26 errors—and stopped short of blaming the fact officials did not close the retractable roof over Court Chatrier for her collapse. Though Sabalenka reiterated her belief it’s

“I don’t know why would they keep the roof open when it’s, like, it was crazy windy,” Sabalenka said. “But how can I complain if almost for the whole match everything was working okay for me, but then it just slipped away. I feel like it was getting crazy maybe just because mentally I wasn’t really okay.

“So for me felt that it was getting crazy, but I remember even from last year, for our match, they kept the roof open, and the next day it was similar conditions, but for the guys they closed the roof just to make, I believe, better conditions and better quality of tennis.”

Grand Slam officials counter the majors are outdoor tournaments therefore they typically don’t close the retractable roof for extreme wind or heat. Ultimately, chaotic conditions have played a primary part as a great equalizer in this event.

World No. 1 Jannik Sinner succumbed to scalding heat and Juan Manuel Cerundolo losing 18 of the final 20 games in his shocking second-round exit.

Today, Sabalenka was in charge leading 6-3, 4-1, 30-Love when Shnaider turned up the heat on her favored forehand and Sabalenka sputtered, stumbled and ultimately crumbled amid swirling winds that sometimes spiked at 35 miles an hour.

Afterward, Sabalenka suggested closing the retractable roof as a shield from the unruly wind means higher quality play rather than the “dirty” tennis in today’s quarterfinals.

Interestingly, though the retractable roof was open for today’s women’s quarterfinal matches, the roof was closed after the opening set of the Felix Auger-Aliassime vs. Flavio Cobolli men’s quarterfinal that followed the Sabalenka v. Shnaider match on Court Chatrier.

“I don’t know why would they keep it open? Even though I was winning, it was very dirty tennis,” Sabalenka said. “I don’t know how people could actually just sit there and watch me play.

“I mean, then at some point she stepped in, and she played unbelievable in those conditions, but I don’t know. [Why the roof was not closed,] it’s a big question.”

A dominant No. 1 who has held the top spot 93 weeks overall, Sabalenka still struggles for solutions on natural surfaces.

All four of her Grand Slam championships have come on hard court, which provides stable footing and a true bounce for the Belarusian to tee off. On clay and grass, Sabalenka not only slips and stumbles, she sometimes struggles to find the proper spacing between her body and the ball and errors ensue.

Sabalenka, who has reached the Wimbledon semifinals in her last three SW19 appearances, said “many things” have prevented her from major success on natural surfaces.

“I don’t know. I really feel great on clay. I feel great on grass,” Sabalenka said. “I think just, I don’t know, maybe I’m focusing too much that I never won a slam on each, you know, and maybe it’s kind of like make me overthink stuff, make me overemotional at some moment.”

After her painful loss to Rybakina in Melbourne, Sabalenka skipped the Middle Eastern swing to rest and recharge from that loss. That brief break worked as Sabalenka swept the Sunshine Double with title runs in Indian Wells and Miami on hard courts. Returning to dirt, Sabalenka squandered six match points losing to Hailey Baptiste in Madrid then suffered a tight 6-2, 3-6, 5-7 defeat to Sorana Cirstea in Rome.

Sabalenka, who fell to 13-2 lifetime in major quarterfinal matches, said she’ll take some time to seek out a solution.

“I don’t know. This is something that I actually have to kind of, like, step back and kind of, like, try to find a solution,” Sabalenka said. “Because I just am so tired of me losing some matches not in the best way just because I was overemotional.”

After Shnaider shattered her quest for a maiden French Open crown and 400th career win, Sabalenka said she felt like getting smashed.

“What doesn’t kill us makes us stronger, I guess,” Sabalenka said. “At some point I will figure that little
situation, and I only will get back tougher.

“By the way, you know, I just figure how I can overcome it. You know those rooms where you just go in and you smash everything (laughter)? Probably I will spend a whole day tomorrow over there destroying stuff. Maybe it will help; maybe not (smiling).”