Aryna Sabalenka was one point away from reaching her first French Open final. Facing the unseeded Karolina Muchova in the semifinals Thursday, she had battled back after losing the first set in a tiebreak, and now held a commanding lead at 5-2 in the decider.
The Roland Garros final looked all but inevitable. As if it would be the latest milestone in a year full of them.
But 18 minutes later, Muchova had not only saved match point, but had come back to stun Sabalenka, winning 20 of the final 24 points. As Muchova threw her hands in the air in celebration, the Philippe-Chatrier crowd roared and stood in ovation for her heroics in a match that had gone over three hours. The dejected Sabalenka quickly found her way off the court.
Until Thursday, Sabalenka had yet to drop a set at Roland Garros, nor lose a Grand Slam match, this year. It had been a monumental season for the 25-year-old. She opened the year with the title at Adelaide and then had her breakthrough moment in Melbourne by winning the Australian Open. She has since reached the world No. 2 ranking, nabbed another trophy at Madrid and played in the finals at Indian Wells and Stuttgart.
No woman on tour has earned more titles, or played in more finals, this season. For much of the French Open, until the final moments of the semifinal, Sabalenka appeared to be on a collision course with world No. 1 Iga Swiatek, the two potentially meeting in the final with a trophy and the No. 1 ranking on the line.
Instead, the loss to Muchova provided a much different, and far more anticlimactic, finish to Sabalenka’s tumultuous stay in Paris.
Off the court, the Belarus native has been peppered with questions from reporters about the Russian invasion of Ukraine, her country’s involvement in the war, and her relationship with Belarus’ controversial president Aleksandr Lukashenko. After a heated exchange following her second-round win, Sabalenka skipped her next two postmatch news conferences. “For my own mental health and well-being, I have decided to take myself out of this situation today, and the tournament has supported me in this decision,” she said last Friday.
Instead of her stellar play, it was Sabalenka’s apprehension to speak that dominated coverage of her French Open run. She didn’t blame the added attention for her loss Thursday, but admitted it had taken a toll on her.
“I felt bad emotionally after one press conference,” Sabalenka said. “As I said, I couldn’t sleep. But the only thing I…
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