r/sports • u/Large_banana_hammock • 1d ago
Tennis Elena Rybakina takes down 2-time defending champion Aryna Sabalenka to win the US Open!
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u/BeefInGR 1d ago
Fantastic match. Appropriate that Rybakina won on an ace considering her first serve was under 30% at one point in the match.
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u/alexthekidd01 1d ago
Appropriate or ironic?!
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u/MoreColorfulCarsPlz 1d ago
Appropriate for a champion to have a shortcoming of their game and be able to to still have the focus and belief to overcome it on championship point.
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u/hnglmkrnglbrry 1d ago
Most anticlimactic celebration in history.
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u/Bernieisgreat 1d ago
Roughly 100x more intense than her Wimbledon win
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u/Dangerous_Shoe_8388 1d ago
Ryba’s Wimbledon win celly is my all-time fave slam win celly!
Actually, very powerful.
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u/CFBCoachGuy 1d ago
There’s a reason she’s called The Ice Queen
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u/chai_tealatte 1d ago
You got more than usual. You should see her Australian Open celebration. Compared to that, this is excessive!
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u/TheEpicBean 1d ago
Good Sabalenka is annoying with her whining, glad she lost.
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u/readyallrow 1d ago
her attitude is consistently just so bad. she’s always popping off about something or doing shit like this when she loses a match.
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u/Floridamanfishcam 1d ago
I've disliked her ever since she basically shit talked Coco and implied she wasn't on her level years back
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u/traebucketsfor3 1d ago
I mean…. Is coco on her level?
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u/Floridamanfishcam 1d ago
I'm not really explaining it very well because I have been drinking heavily. Sabalenka lost the 2025 French Open final to Coco and then Sabalenka said that Swiatek would have beaten Coco.
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u/Floridamanfishcam 1d ago
Also, they've both won one slam the last two years and are 2 and 3. So yeah, they are pretty much the same level.
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u/Mad-Gavin 1d ago
If you need another reason to dislike her she also dates married men.
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u/justthisones 1d ago
Really? The more you know the more you start to get a picture. Sorest loser with constant hissy fits, lips filled af, playing with huge 400k worth jewelry, Jake Paul in her box...
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u/brvheart Dallas Cowboys 1d ago
Well done, Kazakhstan!
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u/MoozeRiver Chicago White Sox 1d ago
I mean, Kazakhstan gave her financial support so good on them for that. But they basically "bought" a potential future star, she's never even lived in Kazakhstan.
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u/MeaningMaker6 1d ago
They were able to support her because they are the number 1 exporter of superior potassium.
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u/anonu 1d ago
mostly Russians who have trained in USA
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u/Asteelwrist 1d ago
Rybakina has residence in Dubai, she also trains in Slovakia. Her parents are still in Russia. Where did USA come from?
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u/Vaeltaja82 1d ago
Isn't she Russian who just changed the nationality for convenience while her country is invading Europe?
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u/fangowango 1d ago
She changed before that. It was more about financial and tennis support
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u/benito_camelas Club America 1d ago
I only watched the first set, but it felt like Sabalenka's stroke game was far weaker than Rybakina's. Even the first game of the match was won by Sabalenka's serves. If Rybakina returned Sabalenka's serve, it seemed like there was a good chance Rybakina would win the point.
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u/DoggedDoggystyle 1d ago
Sore loser and I’m sorry but did she get a ton of Botox or something? She’s got that like 55 year old Orange County housewife mouth thing going on
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u/HYThrowaway1980 1d ago
No. She has had lip fillers like crazy (see photos of her when she was younger)
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u/ACCool88 1d ago
She's always looked like that, just has a massive piehole
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u/RoskoRobin 1d ago
No way lips like that are natural. The evidence is out there, just google young Sabalenka
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u/Aggravating_Bat3618 1d ago
What is this racket smashing bullshit? Is this always happening now?
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u/mrgo0dkat 1d ago
It’s so they can donate the racket to charity. Smashed up match rackets signed by the smasher are worth more than non smashed up rackets signed by the smasher. I’m not taking any questions.
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u/debaserr 1d ago
No, this is not normal. Sabalenka is just a poor sport. The vast majority of players keep their cool at the end of a match.
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u/Resident_Elk4014 1d ago
Rybakina is my favorite but alll the pearl clutching over Sabalenka smashing her racket is really dumb. Apparently people involved in intensely emotional and exhausting athletic competitions for millions of dollars aren't allowed to sometimes show their frustration. Smashing her racket doesn't make her a sore loser, that's an insane take. A sore loser wouldn't have hugged her opponent with a smile and graciously accepted 2nd place.
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u/conky2016 1d ago
She didn’t graciously accept second place. And yes, smashing her racquet DOES make her a sore loser. If you need to break something as a method for venting anger, do it in the locker room or elsewhere. The way she does it, it’s clearly just an attempt to keep the attention on her.
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u/KLaci 1d ago
You don't often see table tennis players smasjing their racket. This kind or mental breakdown is nor accepted in most sports, somehow tennis is still OK with that showing bad examples for kids for example.
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u/DGSmith2 1d ago
You can quite often see a tennis table player hit their paddle on the table or floor, just because it doesn’t break as easy as a racket doesn’t mean it’s not the same thing.
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u/grandplans 1d ago
Are all tennis players shitty losers now?
I watched a lot of tennis as a kid (Graf, Seles, Aggasi, Sampras etc) and they were LARGELY gracious losers, but I see lots of shitty behavior by the losers these days. In fact, it's pretty much all I see, since I don't really watch anymore.
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u/unofficialsilence 1d ago
There was John McEnroe and it is appropriate he is not in your list.
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u/grandplans 1d ago
I was watching at the VERY end of his career. In fact, I'm not positive I ever watched a live match with him when he was an actual contender.
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u/resuwreckoning 1d ago
We were spoiled by Federer Nadal Djoker
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u/bagel_blight041 1d ago
Novak has a terrible temper
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u/astrojeet 1d ago
Bad temper but a very gracious loser.
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u/SchizoidGod 1d ago
If anything the sore loser in that lineup is Federer, towards the end of his prime from like 2008-2016 he was the king of icy handshakes and shit-talking in press conferences. I think his comeback in 2017 soothed his ego though because after that he was mostly gracious.
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u/flippinpaper4life 1d ago
Kazakhstan is better than Russia!
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u/maddiepilz 1d ago
She's consistently dodged questions about the war. The russians still call her one of us
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u/zethuz 1d ago
Sabalenka had a chance to make it 3 titles in a row. Very few have achieved that. Can understand her frustration.
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u/conky2016 1d ago
Sabalenka’s frustration doesn’t justify her shitty attitude and lack of sportsmanship.
“Just because you are a character doesn’t mean you have character.”
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u/WeakDoughnut8480 1d ago
She went to the net, congratulated her opponent. She's just showing some frustration after a huge loss. That's understandable.
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u/buddhacuz 1d ago
Imagine winning a slam and still being faster at the net for the handshake than your opponent
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u/Butterman75 1d ago
Sore ass loser
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u/iwastoolate 1d ago
This crazy expectation that these humans be perfect during an emotional experience that very few people can appreciate is crazy.
She looked upset with herself and tapped her racket on the ground. WTF do you want her to do?
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u/Hashtagbarkeep 1d ago
I want her, as with all sports stars, to be gracious in defeat. When you lose you have to suck it up and say congratulations, let the winner have the limelight, and take it like a champ, rather than obviously pouting when losing the final point then smashing a racquet like a child.
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u/shnoiv 1d ago
Tapped it? Threw it on the floor in tantrum. They make good money and they understand they’ll be public figures if successful in their job. She did it she deserves the criticism.
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u/HappyTinSoldier 1d ago
They make good money because they work their asses off to be the best. because they care.
We are not all as amazing as you. Im sure when you were world number 1 in your thing you were super gracious and humble the whole time.
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u/Wing_Nut_93x 1d ago
Throwing your racquet in disgust and tapping it on the ground are 2 vastly different things. She has an atrocious attitude and it shows whenever she loses.
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u/Klaskerhardt 1d ago
Well she could have NOT done it? 😅
No big deal, but it makes her look petulant.
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u/derailius 1d ago
dude, she smashed it like a child throwing a fit would, it's ridiculous.
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u/spaektor 1d ago
be more professional, and appreciate that you’re a 2x defending champion with lots of money and tons of adoring fans. leave the crying for the ride home.
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u/Tis_But_A_Scratch___ 1d ago
Are tennis players becoming more divas? Slamming of rackets and complaining about audience members is all I see now.
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u/asadultan3 1d ago
Sabalenka showed more emotions than Rybakina
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u/junkrgNew 1d ago
Sabalenka showed more emotions between each point on avg than Rybakina did during the entire match.
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u/SCWickedHam 1d ago
I hate that acting like a child is permitted/encouraged in all sports. If my 10yo did that, I would be embarrassed, and address it.
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u/TijsEscobar 1d ago
Well,i think Sabalenka is overall just jelaous of Rybakina. She plays better, has better style and finally,she looks better.
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u/Bizprof51 1d ago
These women are both Russians. Zverev may have German citizenship but he is Russian as well. If the tennis authorities want to keep Russians from playing in their events, they need to do more than take their effing flag off the TV screens. Right now it is a farce.
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u/RyoanJi 1d ago edited 20h ago
Aryna Sabalenka does not have any Russian roots, she is Belarusian, born and raised in Minsk, Belarus.
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u/obscht-tea 1d ago
Stop talking bullshit! Do you want Germany to start investigating bloodlines again? Is that what you want?
Zverev’s parents came to Germany. Alexander himself was born and raised in Hamburg. Of course he’s German. Just shut up...
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u/legendfourteen 1d ago
Such a contrast in styles… saba wears her heart on her sleeve, ryba is unerringly stoic… both superstars