Just over three months earlier, Aryna Sabalenka had already seen how dangerous Nikola Bartunkova could be. In Berlin, the Czech had stormed to a 6-2, 4-0 lead before Sabalenka somehow clawed her way back to a 2-6, 7-6(2), 6-4 victory. Sabalenka called that escape “a lucky match.” In Beijing, however, there was no such luck. Bartunkova finished the job this time, beating the four-time Grand Slam champion 6-4, 6-3. And Sabalenka, whose philosophy is “don’t bottle it up,” let it out on the tennis racquet.

At one point in the second set, a frustrated Sabalenka tossed her racquet at a break down in the fourth game, and lost on the first match point when she returned into the net.

However, she took the loss with grace afterwards, complimenting her opponent. “She is very talented, and moves well on court,” she said, adding that returning “from shade or sun is tricky. I wasn’t good at this today”.

Meanwhile, Bartunkova, 20, showed composure, saying, “I focused on myself, to be calm” and “I’m not a girl who celebrates too much”.

Sabalenka has never reached a semifinal here in five main-draw appearances, and has now lost six straight matches after dropping the first set (3-7 in such matches this year). Two of her 24 matches against opponents outside the top 20 in 2026 have ended in defeat: this one, and Cincinnati against Bartunkova’s compatriot Sara Bejlek, which is bound to hurt since she has not lifted a trophy since the Sunshine Double in March.

And racquets have trailed Sabalenka through some of her biggest losses. After the 2023 US Open final loss to Coco Gauff, she took her frustration out on one such racquet inside the players’ area. After losing the 2025 Australian Open final to Madison Keys, she slammed another and threw it at the bench once the handshakes were done, saying she “just needed to throw those negative emotions at the end”. Last October, also in China, a racquet she launched in the Wuhan Open semifinal against Jessica Pegula came close to a ball boy; she held up a hand in apology and drew a warning for racquet abuse. Afterwards, she said she wants to be a good example but sometimes isn’t.

This season added more instances. In the 7-6(7), 6-4 loss to Bejlek in Cincinnati on August 19, she tossed a racquet that lost its string dampener. Play paused while she found a replacement, and the chair umpire issued no warning. Then came the US Open final on September 12.

Sabalenka, chasing a third straight title with 19 consecutive wins in New York behind her, lost to Elena Rybakina. She had already received a warning for ball abuse during the match, and after the handshake she smashed a racquet on the court at her bench. The USTA fined her $7,500 for racquet abuse, and ten other players were fined for the same offence at the event.

Against that backdrop, some fans argued that the racquet incidents had become a pattern and that they had seen enough.

“Sabalenka is done – she should retire!” one wrote, under a video of the toss shared by NewsArynaSabalenka on X.

The incident in Beijing also comes months after Sabalenka briefly questioned whether she wanted to continue playing at all. Following her French Open quarterfinal loss to Diana Shnaider in June, where she surrendered a 6-3, 5-3 lead and lost 10 consecutive games, Sabalenka told reporters, “I just want to quit tennis right now,” adding that she hoped to be “back on track mentally” within a few days.

She later reflected on the remark with The Guardian, revealing that she had actually waited around 90 minutes after the match before facing the media because she wanted to regain her composure. Even then, she said she did not regret being candid: “I went there and I said the facts.” Now, critics seem to be reviving that idea for her.

“Just retire and make more of those childish videos with Badosa,” wrote another, aiming at the playful side of Sabalenka that is pretty different from the player seen in the heat of competition.

Sabalenka and Paula Badosa, affectionately dubbed “Sabadosa,” have been making videos of their TikTok dances, jokes, and carefree moments away from the court, with Sabalenka calling Badosa her “soulmate” and saying it is special to have someone with whom she can simply have fun. Badosa has described Sabalenka as a “teddy bear” away from tennis, despite her intensity during matches.

Sabalenka, too, has reflected on that divide between her personal and on-court personas. “In real life, I try to avoid any conflict. I like to spread the joy. In real life, I’m a different person,” she once said.

“First Rybakina now Sabalenka… neither of these ladies looked invested into their matches,” one user wrote, bringing Rybakina, the new World No. 1 after taking the ranking from Sabalenka, into the conversation.

The tournament’s top of the draw had already thinned out. Rybakina lost on Saturday to Armenian world No. 118 Alina Charaeva. With Sabalenka also out, it is the first time the top two seeds have missed the Beijing round of 16 since 2015, when Simona Halep lost to Lara Arruabarrena and Petra Kvitova to Sara Errani.

“She can’t win when it’s windy,” remarked another, bringing to mind Diana Shnaider’s strategy for Sabalenka this year, which she had shared earlier.

Sabalenka has insisted that she has improved at handling difficult conditions, but Paris in 2025 provided a counterpoint. In the French Open final that year, she struggled in blustery conditions against Coco Gauff, admitting afterward that she had failed to manage the weather and her emotions.

A year later, against Diana Shnaider on a similarly windy Court Philippe-Chatrier, Sabalenka led 6-3, 4-1 and later served for the match at 5-4, only to lose 10 consecutive games. And well, Shnaider had actually watched Sabalenka’s previous windy collapse and admitted it was in the back of her mind when she realized the conditions were again difficult. “I gotta use this opportunity,” the Russian recalled thinking.

“Sabalenka is such a sore loser,” a user wrote on X. “She is a sore loser, immature, and Unprofessional!” another added.

Sabalenka, though, would describe it differently. For her, it’s a coping mechanism. “Whenever I feel like I’m holding too much, I just throw the racket, yell something, let it go,” she said just three months ago, per The Guardian.

She has also called herself an “emotional child” on court, adding that she is aware of how people must perceive her actions. “I would just start overreacting to everything … I didn’t want to be an emotional child on court any more.” Still, to her, tennis provides the perfect outlet. So, while retirement is not on her immediate agenda, she has already thought about what might give her a similar outlet afterward.

 “I’m throwing everything on the court. So when I retire I’ll have to find something where I can throw it out. Maybe boxing. I’ve done boxing for a little time, but it can be tricky because you can get injured. Maybe after tennis I’ll become a boxer and a model.”

Sabalenka’s next scheduled stop is the Wuhan Open, which she has won three times, and where she will try to end her title-less run.