Another early exit, another frustrating loss, and Aryna Sabalenka clearly wasn’t thrilled with how things unfolded in Cincinnati. She exchanged greetings with Sara Bejlek at the net after the match, but the disappointment was still written all over her face. At one point, an incident involving a ball kid even brought back memories of a similar moment from 2018 in China. Simply put, the World No. 1 isn’t happy with her current form, and the frustration is starting to show.

Sabalenka suffered her third consecutive Round of 16 exit at the Cincinnati Open, falling to Bejlek in straight sets. After dropping the opening set, cameras caught the top seed in an interaction with a ball boy that drew criticism from fans.

Having lost the first set, the Belarusian was under the pump at 15-40 and went to get balls for the next points from the ball boy. However, given the match situation, the top seed was frustrated and disappointed, and gave the ball boy a reproachful look before smashing the ball back at him, which ended up landing in the crowd.

The frustration boiled over when Sabalenka broke down in that game, going 0-1 down. However, the World No.1 responded in the very next game and took a strong 4-1 lead. Following which, she lost five games in a row and the set and the match, which knocked her out of the fourth round for a second time during the North American hard-court swing.

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The top seed struggled all through the match, as she could not hold on to a lead, with her serve being broken five times in the match. In the first set, she got a break twice, but each time she lost her serve in the next game. The Belarusian no longer seems impregnable in tiebreaks, as she could not win the first-set tiebreak even after holding a 5-1 lead. This time, a ball boy ended up bearing the brunt of Sabalenka’s frustration. And there’s a bit of history here too, with the World No. 1 having a similar run-in with a ball boy back in China in 2018.

At the 2018 China Open, Sabalenka had another heated moment during her quarterfinal clash with Wang Qiang. As the match slipped away, the big-hitting Belarusian let her frustration boil over, shaking an empty bottle toward a ball boy before throwing it onto the court.

Sabalenka later apologized for the incident and admitted she hadn’t even realized how it looked in the moment. “Well, I’m so sorry. It was emotional and I was losing my mind and after that I saw it on Twitter and I was just like ‘Oh my god, what did you mean?'” She further added, “I didn’t even remember this, and I was just like, ‘Wow, I’m sorry for this guy.'” Yet, eight years later, managing those emotions still appears to be a work in progress for the World No. 1, especially when frustration starts taking over on court.

At the Wuhan Open last year, the World No.1 threw her racket towards the bench, which bounced off and fell near a ball kid. Following this, the Belarusian was issued a code violation, but she immediately apologized to the ball kid.

However, after the recent episode with the ball kid in Cincinnati, social media fans seemed disappointed and called out her behavior.

Fans Call Out Aryna Sabalenka for Ball Boy Incident at the Cincinnati Open

Fans were critical of Sabalenka‘s behavior, calling out the Belarusian as a bad sport, someone who struggled to take a loss. “Only happens when she’s losing,” said a fan on X, drawing from her past reactions in such situations.

Other fans echoed similar sentiments, with one saying, “Aryna Sabalenka is losing again and switching to her aggressive and disrespectful mode,” while another chimed in saying, “What’s wrong with Sabalenka ?? Such a bad loser.”

Another fan called out the double standards in tennis, comparing the reaction to Sabalenka’s incident to the reaction a Serena Williams incident would receive. “Another reason why I love seeing her lose! If Serena had did this it would be front page news on a 24hr clock!” said the fan.

Sabalenka’s form heading into the US Open will be a worry for the Belarusian, especially her manner of winning, as her Cincinnati loss showed signs similar to those she showed when she had her meltdown at the French Open. The Belarusian started the year well, losing only one match out of the first twenty-five, but since then has a 14-6 record, which reduces her title hopes in New York.