What the blistering heat and sun did for Jannik Sinner, so the wind and her own mind did for Aryna Sabalenka. The only remaining grand slam champion left in either the men’s or women’s draw, the top seed and world No 1 did not drop a set in her first four matches at Roland-Garros and only once spent more than an hour and a half on court.
But then came a meeting with 25th seed and first-time grand slam quarter-finalist Diana Shnaider, and a match amid the swirling, lively winds under the open roof of Court Philippe-Chatrier. And by the end of it came a familiar sight as Sabalenka, already a four-time major champion but who has held herself back from winning more, waved sadly to the crowd and made a premature exit, 6-3 5-7 0-6.
A subdued and demoralised Sabalenka was emphatic in her press conference. “No thoughts, no emotions. I just want to quit tennis right now, but we’ll see in a few days.
“Hopefully I’ll get back on track. Mentally I couldn’t really recover after the second set. I think that was the biggest mistake from me.
“I actually have to step back and try to find a solution, because I just am so tired of me losing some matches not in the best way just because I was overemotional.”
Both players struggled from the start as the wind kicked up the red dust. It was Sabalenka who settled quickest, racing to a 5-1 lead and utilising every facet of her increasingly complete game, from her vicious groundstrokes to drop shots and volleys.
But the warning signs were there as an increasingly tenacious Shnaider dug in, fighting back to 5-3, and Sabalenka’s frustration was apparent as she shouted at herself for errors.
Having been on shaky foundations mentally earlier in her career, notably as she struggled with double faults, the Belarusian has made strides in rounding out her game and eradicating those psychological dramas. But she has been by no means immune to them in recent seasons, and last year’s meltdown during and after her final defeat to Coco Gauff was the precursor of things to come on Chatrier a year later.
In her press conference she smiled wryly as a comparison was made to last year’s final. “Oh yeah,” she said. “I have been through so many things, and I overcome so many things. I just have to figure that little thing that is not working for me sometimes, and hopefully I can overcome it.”
Asked how she will bounce back, she merely said: “I don’t know. I don’t know. I don’t know.” Later she returned to the question: “You know those rooms where you go in and smash everything? Probably I will spend a whole day tomorrow over there destroying stuff.”
open image in galleryAll seemed relatively serene as sealed the first set and broke Shnaider in the first game of the second. The 22-year-old began to leak errors and Sabalenka’s power, despite her own errors in the wind, kept her one step ahead.
But from 4-1 up in the second set Sabalenka lost 12 of the final 13 games and 18 of the last 23 points; at 5-3 in the second she was two points from victory and a seventh consecutive major semi-final. It was a collapse of epic proportions – the biggest since Sinner’s meltdown in the heat last week in his second-round wipeout by Juan Manuel Cerundolo.
The rot set in with a sloppy drop shot followed by a double fault as Shnaider broke back for 4-2. The Russian said afterwards: “Tough conditions with the wind, first time playing Aryna, super nervous. Quarterfinals for the first time, definitely a lot of nerves. I feel like first there was trying to adjust to her game and then to the conditions, to the wind. I was like, it’s okay. It’s tough conditions, she’s the World No. 1. I will just try to do my best to the end and we’ll see how it goes.”
And it was clear that having settled, having got Sabalenka on edge, Shnaider had the upper hand. All but six of her 24 winners came from her superb forehand down the line, her lefty power and flat hitting helping her power back into contention. Out of nowhere she had a set point as the wind helpfully floated a lob inside the baseline, and as Sabalenka became increasingly erratic, shouting to her box and complaining vociferously, Shnaider locked in.
open image in galleryAfter the first two sets took 48 and 53 minutes respectively the decider was over in 33. Sabalenka leaked 57 unforced errors, 17 in the final set alone. She could not power-hit her way through the wind and through Shnaider’s increasing confidence.
In a mammoth Sabalenka service game in the decider, with Shnaider leading 1-0, the Belarusian risked a default as a first serve clattered back at her and she drop-kicked the ball in the direction of the line judges and the crowd, putting her hands up sheepishly after. Shnaider responded by planting a forehand winner well out of reach.
At 3-0 down Sabalenka punted another shot long and crouched down on the court for a brief moment to compose herself, with the crowd applauding sympathetically. It was all going horribly wrong and she had no response. Hitting more aggressively only resulted in more errors; her first serve disappeared; there was no Plan B.
She shanked the ball into the net and sent her racquet flying, shouting at her box. At 4-0 down she could not pounce on a weak Shnaider second serve, and the Russian – who played an excellent final set – had only to keep calm in the face of her opponent imploding. Serving to stay in the match Sabalenka thumped the ball into the net, handing over three match points, before the wind did her a favour by sending a Shnaider lob floating long.
open image in galleryNo matter: Sabalenka had another error up her sleeve, a tame shank into the net, and the collapse was complete.
“I don’t know when that was the last time that happened to me,” she said afterwards, “[losing] 10 games in a row. I guess mentally I got into a very deep, dark hole, and couldn’t get back mentally on track.
“I don’t know why they would keep the roof open, it was crazy windy. But how can I complain if almost for the whole match everything was working okay for me, but then it just slipped away. Even though I was winning it was very dirty tennis. She played unbelievable in those conditions, but it’s a big question [why the roof was kept open].”
A beaming Shnaider said she was “speechless” after the result; she will play another player on the run of her life, Polish qualifier Maja Chwalinska, in the last four.
For Sabalenka though this was another golden chance that went begging. This was the first time she had lost a set 6-0 since playing Donna Vekic in Dubai in 2024, and this time came on the biggest stage, at a tournament where she was the prohibitive favourite.
But while Sinner’s collapse last week was physical, this felt entirely psychological. As has happened so many times, Sabalenka’s biggest weakness, in a tennis game which often feels physically impenetrable, was her own mind. How she responds, and how she gets herself out of this “dark hole”, will be crucial as she continues her bid to build herself into the most complete player on the tour.