World No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka Accused Of Poor Sportsmanship Handshake

Aryna Sabalenka's summer on the hard courts has gone from bad to worse.

Sabalenka, the reigning US Open champion, was hoping to bounce back from her disappointing run at Wimbledon with a strong showing in Montreal. However, she was defeated by Ekaterina Alexandrova in the fourth round of the National Bank Open.

Advertisement

The hope for Sabalenka was that she'd redeem herself at the Cincinnati Open, but Sara Bejlek picked up an upset 7-6 (7), 6-4 win over the No. 1 player in the world.

"I feel incredible," Bejlek said after the win. "I lost totally my words. I just keep believing and that was the key today. She played amazing tennis and I was just believing, keep fighting and I was just trying my best and that's it."

Even though Bejlek had the match of her life against Sabalenka, she didn't exactly receive a ton of respect from her opponent.

Advertisement

Sabalenka was accused of hitting Bejlek with a cold handshake at the net. She was even called out by legendary "SportsCenter" anchor Linda Cohn.

"Disappointing," Cohn wrote. "Be better Aryna."

Sabalenka just can't snap out of her slump.

Prior to the start of the Cincinnati Open, the four-time Grand Slam champion admit that she's lowering her expectations due to her recent results.

"I no longer have expectations. Basically, I don't care. I'm just going to come, fight, and enjoy every challenge that comes my way," Sabalenka said. "This summer, I had high expectations. Even if I don't want to say it, I wanted to succeed in the tournament where I desperately wanted to have success. My body stopped me. Then there were small things that didn't go my way, and that really led me to disappointment."

Advertisement

Could Sabalenka turn things around at the US Open? Absolutely, but it's hard to have confidence in her right now.

Click here to read article