Former world No 1 Caroline Wozniacki defended Aryna Sabalenka as she spoke to Tennis365 after the Belarusian’s defeat at the 2026 Wimbledon Championships.
Sabalenka suffered a 2-6, 6-7(2) loss to No 14 seed Naomi Osaka in the last 16 at Wimbledon — a defeat that ended her stellar run of reaching the quarter-finals or better at 14 consecutive majors.
The world No 1 is a two-time champion at both the Australian Open and the US Open, while she is yet to win either the French Open or Wimbledon.
The 28-year-old has occupied top spot in the WTA Rankings since overtaking Iga Swiatek in October 2024, and she has been by far the most consistent player in women’s tennis during this period.
It is surprising, though, that Sabalenka has won just one of the last seven Grand Slam titles since securing her third major at the 2024 US Open.
Sabalenka was a runner-up at each of the last two editions of the Australian Open, as well as the 2025 French Open.
At Roland Garros this year, she collapsed to a shock three-set quarter-final loss to Diana Shnaider after she was up a set and a double break at 4-1 in the second set.
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Sabalenka has faced some criticism over her results at Roland Garros and Wimbledon, with tennis great Jimmy Connors saying the world No 1 is “going to have to start proving herself.”
In an exclusive interview, Tennis365 asked Wozniacki if a mentality issue has been a factor in some of Sabalenka’s difficult recent losses at Grand Slams.
“No, I think it’s hard, right? We expect so much from her,” said the Dane, who won the 2018 Australian Open.
“We expect her to just get to the finals easy every week and win everything, but she’s human, as well.
“There’s a lot of players out there who are working hard every day, who are following her and seeing every single movement she makes on court. It’s difficult. As humans, we will go up and down a little bit.
“And you’ve gotta give credit where credit is due. I think Naomi played extremely well, I think she deserved to win that match, just with the tennis that she played. I think it was the best tennis I’ve seen from her in a while.
“Sometimes, you’ve just got to say congratulations [to the opponent], and I hope that she is enjoying a little bit of vacation and enjoying just being away from the court a little bit.
“And I have no doubt that we’ll see her back on the hard-court swing fit to fight and fully ready to win.”
The post Caroline Wozniacki defends Aryna Sabalenka from criticism as she answers ‘mentality’ question appeared first on Tennis365.
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