Aryna Sabalenka’s furious reaction after crashing out of Wimbledon BBC didn’t broadcast | Tennis | Sport

Aryna Sabalenka smacked a ball into the air in frustration immediately after losing to Naomi Osaka on Centre Court – but the tense moment wasn’t caught by BBC cameras. The world No. 1 suffered her earliest Grand Slam exit in more than four years as Osaka claimed a statement 6-2 7-6(2) victory to reach the quarter-finals here for the first time.

Sabalenka saved the first match point with an ace, but the 14th seed ripped a return on her second match point, and the Belarusian couldn’t get the ball back into play, dumping it into the net. She immediately took a ball and hit it up in frustration, almost clearing the Centre Court roof. It sparked a small smattering of boos, but most fans in the stands were too busy cheering on Osaka.

In a battle of the four-time Grand Slam champions, Osaka came out swinging and broke twice in a statement opening set, while Sabalenka looked exasperated and waved her arms towards her coaching box. At one point, she hit her racket into her head repeatedly.

The top seed stepped it up in the second set, but Osaka, who was featuring in the fourth round of Wimbledon for the first time, looked impenetrable. She dropped only 15 points on serve in set two and was the more aggressive of the two.

Sabalenka should have been the favourite to win the tiebreak – she had not lost one at a Grand Slam tournament since the 2023 French Open semi-finals. But Osaka was unstoppable.

The errors kept coming for last year’s semi-finalist. And she finally let her frustrations show after losing in straight sets when she sent the ball flying.

Sabalenka then came to her post-match press conference almost immediately – something she also did after a crushing defeat to Coco Gauff in the 2025 French Open. And the four-time Grand Slam champion admitted that she had actually kept a lid on her frustrations during the match.

“I cannot be satisfied with anything today. But I have to say that there was couple times where I could just completely lose it,” the 28-year-old said. “But I was respectful to the grass and to the next players who is going to play there, so I hold myself really good.”

The world No. 1 was reminded that she had still whacked the ball into the sky, but she smiled and replied: “Yeah, but I hit it outside of the stadium, I believe. So you see?”