Aryna Sabalenka Announces She's 'Not Quitting' After French Open
Aryna Sabalenka had a gut-wrenching press conference on Wednesday after suffering an upset loss in the quarterfinals at Roland Garros.
Sabalenka, the No. 1 player in the world, seemed well on her way to a routine victory over Diana Shnaider. She had a chance to serve for the match in the second set but she was unable to take advantage. By the time the third set started, Sabalenka was unable to get herself back on track. Although it sounds too crazy to be true, she lost 12 of the last 13 games.
"No thoughts, no emotions," Sabalenka said after the loss to Shnaider. "Just want to quit tennis right now."
That comment from Sabalenka concerned plenty of tennis fans, including the legendary Venus Williams.
"I was feeling sad actually. I was kinda like.. I got taken on her emotions. A lot of empathy for her. And she leaves it all on the court. You see everything she feels on the court. Perhaps maybe take a little more time if you need to before the press conference, because I don't think she wants to quit tennis. That would be a tragedy for tennis and a tragedy for her. But when you lose it's just so, like, ugh. The inner struggle is real," Williams said on TNT.
"like that she lets us in, lets us be a part of her world in that way. What happened today happens to every player at some point in time. And it hurts. The worst part is that you let your own self down. And to deal with letting yourself down is the hardest thing in the world. If you just get beat, you just got beat. If somebody wiped you off the court, you got beat, they played better… You can deal with that. But right now she's dealing with her own disappointment. It's hard to sleep at night with that. What I'll also say is that any of us would take the year she's had. I think she's just amplifying in this moment. But she's had a great year. I don't think she should have any regrets. This should make her stronger."
Thankfully, Sabalenka isn't going to retire anytime soon.
Sabalenka confirmed this Thursday that she's not done playing on the WTA Tour. She posted a few photos from Roland Garros along with an encouraging message.
"Still love you, Paris," she wrote for her Instagram caption. "I'll be back. Definitely not quitting."
Still hope for Sabalenka.
Sabalenka is still searching for her first major title of the 2026 season, but it's not like this year has been a failure.
Prior to the start of the clay-court season, Sabalenka won the title at Indian Wells and immediately backed that up by winning the Miami Open.
We'll see if Sabalenka can turn things around at Wimbledon. If not, she'll get the chance to dominate on the hard courts in the summer.
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This story was originally published June 4, 2026 at 10:44 AM.