How many of you expected Aryna Sabalenka to go down against Elena Rybakina in her last group stage match at the 2024 WTA Finals? Rybakina entered this match as a significant underdog, but she came out of this epic contest with flying colors. This was her first tournament since her withdrawal from the R2 match at the US Open due to a back injury. Rybakina had nothing to lose but a lot to gain from this match. She’ll surely get a lot of confidence from this performance and this might help her make a good start to her season in 2025, but what really went wrong for Sabalenka? Having already secured her place in the SF and also the top spot in rankings, did she lack a bit of motivation?

Both these tennis stars have now faced each other ten times in their careers. If we look at their H2H record, currently Aryna Sabalenka has a slight edge (6-4) over the Kazakhstani star. Shortly after finishing the match both the players spoke to the media and here’s what they had to say on this epic contest. Elena Rybakina said, “I’m really happy overall how I played this tournament,” while Aryna Sabalenka highlighted what really went wrong for her in this match. She stated that sometimes it’s not about only the points and the money, but something else. What’s it, though?

In the post-match interview, Aryna Sabalenka said, “I have to learn and I have to figure out how to keep myself super motivated for another win. I mean, obviously, points and money should be my motivation, but umm… sometimes it’s not about that.” The world’s number one further added, “You know I wanted to get this win because you know I’m not feeling my best right now after losing a match. But at the same time like seeing such a high-level player, having this kind of like mentality of nothing to lose and like going for her shots and everything seems to work really well in the key moments and on important moments.“

Aryna Sabalenka also highlighted that it was a bit difficult for her to handle her emotions in the first set. She’s very much disappointed with her overall performance in this match but she has assured her fans that she’d speak to herself and try to cool herself down a bit and also get herself engaged in preparing for the SF as well as she can. Aryna Sabalenka has played 69 matches this season, and she has won 56 out of them. How impressive it is to see her having the same hunger and desire she had at the start of the season! That’s the true sign of a champion. What lies ahead of Aryna Sabalenka, now? How can she get back on the winning track?

Former WTA Pro advises Aryna Sabalenka to have a pep talk with her team after this disappointing loss against Elena Rybakina

Aryna Sabalenka had two goals to accomplish in this tournament. First, was to make sure that she wraps up the year as the world’s number one. That’s done and dusted, now! Her next goal was to win her first WTA Finals title. Although her loss to Rybakina didn’t impact much on her chances of accomplishing her second goal in Riyadh, it was still a wake-up call.

Reflecting more on those things, Aryna Sabalenka said that she doesn’t want to get distracted now. “It’s a really great feeling but I figured that last night and it didn’t work really well tonight for me, so I just want to focus on the current tournament, to stay hungry and stay motivated, because it’s a big tournament and it’s also one of my goals, so I’ll focus on this goal.” In order to help her more to accomplish her second goal, American former world number one Tracy Austin came up with some advice for the Belarusian.

She explained what exactly now Sabalenka must do in-order to overcome that disappointing result against Rybakina. During a conversation at the Tennis Channel Live Podcast, Austin said, “I’m hoping that she (Sabalenka) can talk to her team.” Even she felt Aryna Sabalenka might have had a little bit of a letdown in this match, especially after already securing her first goal of ensuring the year-end number-one ranking. Austin wasn’t too impressed with Sabalenka’s movements in this match and she heaped praise on Rybakina for pushing the number one on the back foot time and again. However, after having a day off she felt Aryna Sabalenka would be ready yet again to take up the challenge in the SF. Do you think Sabalenka can win the WTA Finals this year?