Aryna Sabalenka called off her press conference after crashing out of the French Open at the hands of teenager Mirra Andreeva on Wednesday. Sabalenka was off colour as she suffered a shock quarter-final defeat, with ‘medical reasons’ cited when her media duties were cancelled.
Sabalenka appeared to be struggling midway through the first set, grimacing and pointing to her stomach while she talked with medical staff. She even made a swiping gesture at her neck, suggesting a retirement was just around the corner.
The Belarusian somehow put her troubles to one side by winning a first-set tiebreak, but she continued to receive medical attention throughout the match and was close to tears in the second set, often having to crouch down before attacking the next point.
While Andreeva’s opponent – the Australian Open champion – was far from her best, the 17-year-old capitalised superbly, prevailing 6-7 6-4 6-4 to become the youngest competitor in a Grand Slam semi-final this century.
With the world waiting to hear Sabalenka’s version of events, they were met with disappointment when a tournament statement made it clear she could not conduct her media duties.
It read: “Aryna Sabalenka will be unable to attend her post-match press conference due to medical reasons and is currently with the tournament medical team.”
Sabalenka was the main contender to stop Iga Swiatek’s streak of French Open dominance having swept aside Erika Andreeva, Moyuka Uchijima, Paula Badosa and Emma Navarro in straight sets before coming up against teenage sensation Mirra on Wednesday.
Swiatek has won three of the last four French Open titles, and she is on course to win a third on the spin ahead of her highly-anticipated clash with Coco Gauff in the semi-finals. Andreeva, meanwhile, will face 12th seed Italian Jasmine Paolini in the other semi.
“Honestly I was really nervous before the match, I knew [Sabalenka] would have an advantage,” said Andreeva, who fought back tears once her victory was confirmed. “Me and my coach, we had a plan today but again I didn’t remember anything. I just try to play as I feel.”
Andreeva has shown impressive resilience to make it so far at Roland Garros, battling past Victoria Azarenka in the second round and home favourite Varvara Gracheva in the last 16, when she blocked out thousands of jeering spectators to come away with the win.
