Tennis icon Jimmy Connors has questioned whether Aryna Sabalenka is lacking \u201ckiller instinct\u201d after her defeat in the Australian Open final.<\/p>\n
World No 1 Sabalenka narrowly fell 6-4, 4-6, 6-4 to fifth seed Elena Rybakina in the women\u2019s singles final at the Australian Open last Saturday<\/a>, in a rematch of the 2023 final won by the Belarusian.<\/p>\n After dropping the opening set, Sabalenka<\/a> broke to claim the second set, and a five-game streak saw her move to a 3-0 lead in the decider, only for Rybakina<\/a> to win six of the final seven games and claim her second Grand Slam title.<\/p>\n Sabalenka has a comfortable lead at the top of the WTA Rankings<\/a> and lifted the US Open title last September, but has now lost three of her last four Grand Slam finals.<\/p>\n The Belarusian was beaten in the 2025 Australian Open final by Madison Keys<\/a> and the 2025 French Open final by Coco Gauff, with both matches narrow three-set losses for the 27-year-old.<\/p>\n Sabalenka held an impressive 3-1 record in Grand Slam finals before 2025 but now has a 4-4 record in such matches, while also losing to Amanda Anisimova in a three-set Wimbledon semi-final last summer<\/a>.<\/p>\n Questions have been asked about the world No 1\u2019s ability to get over the line in big matches, and eight-time Grand Slam singles champion Connors<\/a> has now joined that conversation.<\/p>\n Speaking on his Advantage Connors<\/em><\/a> podcast, the tennis great claimed that Sabalenka was \u201ctoo good\u201d to not be able to get over the finish line.<\/p>\n Jack Draper skipping Australian Open was \u2018smart decision\u2019 \u2013 leading injury expert ahead of Brit\u2019s comeback<\/a><\/p>\n WTA Rankings Race To Riyadh: Rybakina leads, Mboko & Jovic star, Swiatek & Gauff not in top 8<\/a><\/p>\n He said: \u201cSabi, once again\u2026 I think she had 3-0 in the third, right? I might take a little ribbon for this, but I have to say it. You have to have that killer instinct.<\/p>\n \u201cYou got to, especially when you\u2019ve got somebody in the finals like that, you got to get on top and you got to do everything you can to stay on top and keep the pressure on and cut down on your mistakes, and don\u2019t give any points away and make your opponent earn everything.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd I know she\u2019s had bad luck in the past, losing a number of finals she maybe shouldn\u2019t have. But up 3-0 in the third in a major like that\u2026 you got to close the deal. And she\u2019s way too good a player to not be able to do that.<\/p>\n \u201cShe has in the past, don\u2019t get me wrong. But to let a lead like that go \u2014 I want to see how she bounces back from that.<\/p>\n \u201cShe has in the past again, and she\u2019s come through and won majors. But man, she\u2019s got to get that killer instinct and when you have it, take it, grab it and get to the finish line.\u201d<\/p>\n Sabalenka\u2019s wait for a fifth Grand Slam singles title will now extend until at least May, when the French Open takes place in Paris.<\/p>\n The Belarusian\u2019s loss to Gauff last summer was the first time she had reached the final at Roland Garros<\/a>, having ended the reign of three-time defending champion Iga Swiatek in the semi-final.<\/p>\n After her Australian Open run, Sabalenka is currently set to return to action at the Qatar Open in Doha, the first WTA 1000 event of the season.<\/p>\n She is then set to compete at the Dubai Tennis Championships the following week, before the \u2018Sunshine Double\u2019 WTA 1000 events in Indian Wells and Miami.<\/p>\n Sabalenka is a two-time runner-up in Indian Wells and lost to Mirra Andreeva in the 2025 final, though will enter the Miami Open as the reigning champion, having beaten Jessica Pegula in the final last year.<\/p>\n Want more from Tennis365? Add us as a preferred source on Google to your favourites list<\/a> for tennis coverage you can trust.<\/strong><\/p>\n Read Next<\/strong>: Qatar Open entry list, prize money, ranking points, key dates: Anisimova defends title as Swiatek, Sabalenka, Rybakina return<\/a><\/p>\n The post Aryna Sabalenka\u2019s \u2018killer instinct\u2019 questioned by tennis icon after Australian Open final defeat<\/a> appeared first on Tennis365<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Tennis icon Jimmy Connors has questioned whether Aryna Sabalenka is lacking \u201ckiller instinct\u201d after her defeat in the Australian Open final. World No 1 Sabalenka narrowly fell 6-4, 4-6, 6-4 to fifth seed Elena Rybakina in the women\u2019s singles final at the Australian Open last Saturday, in a rematch of the 2023 final won by […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1709","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-articles"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1709","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1709"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1709\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1709"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1709"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1709"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Tennis News<\/h2>\n