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Aryna Sabalenka blamed exhaustion and fatigue after suffering a surprise defeat to Sofia Kenin in Rome. Sabalenka, seeded at No 2, was beaten in her Rome opener as Kenin upset the Belarusian 7-6 (4) 6-2. In her first two clay tournaments of the year, Sabalenka finished as runner-up in Stuttgart and also won the Madrid title.
"Exhausted Definitely need some recharge," Sabalenka tweeted after losing to Kenin.
Kenin, the 2020 Australian Open champion, clinched her first top-10 win since 2020 January.Exhausted 😩 Definitely need some recharge 🪫 🔜 🔋 — Sabalenka Aryna (@SabalenkaA) May 11, 2023
“Obviously super happy, I played really well. Of course she’s had some great results, great year, so of course going into the match there’s not much pressure on my side. I tried to use that to my advantage, and of course I felt like an underdog coming in.
I tried to take it to her, do my best. I had to bring my A-game in order to win," Kenin said.
Sabalenka tipped to still be a French Open contender despite the Kenin loss
Following the loss to Kenin, Sabalenka now stands at 9-2 on clay this season.
Andy Roddick, a former Grand Slam champion who works as an analyst on Tennis Channel, thinks Sabalenka is definitely still a French Open title contender. “Maybe, there was a little bit of a hangover but those turnarounds have been done before and they used to be in a tighter schedule.
So, it doesn’t affect what I think as far as Sabalenka’s chances at Roland Garros,” Roddick said on Tennis Channel. Also, Roddick praised Kenin for perfectly executing her game plan against Sabalenka. “Let’s acknowledge what Kenin did really well.
She stood inside the court on the second serve, was changing directions, so Sabalenka wasn’t hitting two or three shots from the same position where she can kind of get that cumulative effect of her immense power,” Roddick noted.