Australian Open 2025 runner-up Aryna Sabalenka discovered herself in deep water after a video of her went viral after the tip of the ladies’s singles last on Saturday. The Belarusian suffered a shock 6-3, 2-6, 7-5 defeat by the hands of Madison Keys, the No 19 seed, within the summit conflict.
Belarus’ Aryna Sabalenka reacts after dropping towards USA’s Madison Keys throughout their girls’s singles last match on day fourteen of the Australian Open tennis event in Melbourne on January 25(AFP)
Sabalenka, who was touted to turn out to be the primary lady on this century to finish a three-peat in Melbourne, was left infuriated after the loss as she smashed her racquet on the finish of the match, earlier than storming off the courtroom earlier than the beginning of the post-match presentation.
Later, a video emerged from the locker room emerged after the presentation ceremony on the Rod Laver Area, captioned: ‘Let’s all pee on it.’ The video confirmed Sabalenka, her boyfriend Georgios Frangulis and her health coach Jason Stacy wanting on the runners-up trophy, which was positioned on the ground, pretended to urinate on it.
The viral video left followers disgusted as they slammed the world no. 1 for her “classless” act and referred to as for Tennis Australia to ban her from the subsequent version of the Australian Open.
After the match, she stated: “I think when you get to the point of finals, it’s trophy or nothing. Nobody remembers the finalist, you know? Nobody put, like, next to the winner, the finalist name.
“At this point, yeah, I go for titles. Of course, I have to be anyway proud of myself with the finals, three finals in a row. That’s something crazy. I hope that next year I’ll come back as a better player, and I’ll hold Daphne [the Daphne Akhurst Memorial Cup] one more time.”
Australian Open girls’s winner Keys returned to her career-best rating on Monday and joined three different American girls – Coco Gauff (No. 3), Jessica Pegula (No. 6) and Emma Navarro, who slipped one place to No. 9 – within the WTA prime 10. She moved from No. 14 to a career-high No. 7. In the meantime, Sabalenka remained at No. 1, and Iga Swiatek stayed at No. 2 after her loss to Keys in an exciting semifinal.