Aryna Sabalenka is not satisfied after stopping in the Roland Garros quarterfinals, and she has every reason to feel indignant at the decisions from the Grand Slam organizers.
Sabalenka encountered difficulties in strong wind conditions when facing Diana Shnaider. The weather played a decisive role, causing the world No. 1 to lose the lead 6-3, 4-1, and then lose back.
She lost 10 games in a row to Shnaider – the player who would enter her first Grand Slam semi-final in her career, against the Polish player who passed the qualifying round, Maja Chwalińska.
After the match, Sabalenka brought resentment to the press conference. The Belarusian tennis player shared that she wanted to "give up tennis" after this defeat, and opposed the organizers opening the Philippe-Chatrier court roof.
That's another question – I don't understand why they keep the roof open when the wind is blowing very strongly," Sabalenka said.
I felt the situation became crazy, maybe just because mentally, I wasn't really okay. I remember even last year, they kept the roof open for us, and the next day, in similar conditions, they closed it for male players – I believe it was to create better competition conditions and higher tennis quality.
I don't know why they kept it open. Even when I was leading, it was still very bad tennis. I don't understand how the audience could sit there and watch. And then at one point, she seized the opportunity and played unbelievable tennis.
Although it is understandable that Roland Garros wants to maintain the nature of an outdoor Grand Slam tournament, what happened after Sabalenka's match against Shnaider is like a complete disrespect.
Felix Auger-Aliassime and Flavio Cobolli had difficulty in the first set due to strong winds, and before the second set began, the roof on the Philippe-Chatrier court was closed.
The weather did not change significantly between the 2 matches, so what changed? Auger-Aliassime and Cobolli did not even complain about the wind, so this is really a biased case from the Grand Slam side.
The fact that the roof was closed for men's tennis players' matches was the last thing Sabalenka wanted to see, but she had every right to be angry. Even though she deserved to lose to a better-playing opponent, she would always wonder what might have happened if Roland Garros had closed the roof from the beginning.
Former tennis player and legendary coach Jo Durie believes that Sabalenka's anger is completely justified after this strange decision.
On X social network, Durie wrote: "Oh, now the roof is closed!!!! Sabalenka will definitely not be satisfied with this.
Durie is completely right, and the world No. 1 tennis player deserves at least an apology for the controversial decision from the tournament organizers.
