Rick Macci, a renowned former coach of Serena and Venus Williams, has told Tennis365 why he has concerns about Aryna Sabalenka’s mentality as the Belarusian chases the Wimbledon title.
Sabalenka is seeking her maiden Wimbledon crown at the 2026 edition of the historic grass-court Grand Slam tournament in London.
The world No 1’s best result at the All England Club is reaching the semi-finals, which she achieved in her three previous appearances in 2025, 2023 and 2021 (Sabalenka missed Wimbledon in 2024 and 2022).
Sabalenka has spent 87 consecutive weeks as the world No 1 since overtaking Iga Swiatek in October 2024, and she has been the dominant player on the WTA Tour in this period.
The 28-year-old is a four-time Grand Slam champion, and she has not fallen before the quarter-finals in her last 14 appearances at majors.
Despite this, Sabalenka has not converted her outstanding consistency into as many Grand Slam titles as some feel she could, and perhaps should, have won.
Sabalenka has won just one of the last six majors since the start of 2025, losing in three finals.
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Last month, Sabalenka collapsed to a shock quarter-final loss to Diana Shnaider at Roland Garros after leading 6-3, 4-1 with a double break in the second set. She lost the last 10 games — and 12 of the last 13 games — as Shnaider won the third set 6-0.
The Belarusian then lost a final set 6-0 again in her semi-final defeat to Jessica Pegula at the Berlin Open, which was her only grass-court event before Wimbledon.
Speaking exclusively to Tennis365, Macci described the one-sided scorelines in Sabalenka’s two most recent losses as a “red flag.”
“Look what’s going on with Sabalenka — the last two losses, she got a donut (6-0) in the third set… What is that? What is that? That’s a bit of a red flag,” said the American coach.
“She was stellar in tiebreaks, her record in tiebreakers was unreal. But it seems like, on the biggest stage, a few things start to bother her.
“And there’s a fine line between winning and losing, especially on the women’s tour. Let’s just hope that she figures it out.
“But to me, it’s a little bit of a red flag to not have enough pride to even scrape out a game against two players where you’re definitely the better player on paper.
“I don’t know what’s going on [with Sabalenka] off the court, but if you’re not there every single point… the margins are so thin — they’re just razor thin — and anybody can beat anybody anytime, anywhere.”
Asked who he is backing to win the women’s singles title at Wimbledon, Macci picked world No 2 Elena Rybakina over Sabalenka.
“I was going to go with Sabalenka a few weeks ago (laughs), until I’m seeing what’s going on,” said Macci.
“I’m going to go with [Elena] Rybakina.”
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The post Aryna Sabalenka ‘red flag’ could derail her Wimbledon title bid, says Serena Williams’ ex-coach appeared first on Tennis365.
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