Aryna Sabalenka provided a minor update through the WTA telecommunications staff after her loss at the 2024 Roland Garros.
Sabalenka was playing a wonderful Roland Garros, looking destined for a final showdown against top seed Iga Swiatek. It would have been the third time they would face each other in the final in the past few weeks, which just shows how dominant both of them are.
Nobody really believed that Mirra Andreeva could beat Sabalenka in the Roland Garros quarter-final, mostly because the Belarusian bested her in both of their previous matches without any problems and yet the Russian teenager won the match.
Still, it happened largely because Sabalenka was quite limited in what she could do on a tennis court. She didn’t play her best tennis or was close to her best tennis, but she wasn’t terrible either.
Andreeva battled her as well as anybody and ultimately prevailed, but it was clear that the Belarusian was dealing with some kind of physical issue.
During the match, it appeared to be a stomach issue, which was confirmed after the match. The second seed relayed a message to fans through the WTA, admitting that she had been battling a stomach bug for a few days and that during the match, she simply couldn’t overcome it as well as she needed to.
“I had a difficult time out there physically today. I have been very sick the last few days with some kind of stomach bug, so it’s been a challenge. It has been a few days, yes. I did my best to try and manage it.”
It doesn’t seem like a minor issue because Sabalenka skipped over the press conference as well. It shows that it’s a pretty impactful issue, which was clear from the match as well.
It’s an unfortunate way to end a promising Grand Slam run, but it happens to the best of the best, and according to the latest reports, she should be fit for the 2024 Berlin Open, which should be her first grass-court tournament.
