Venus Williams was sitting on the TNT Roland Garros desk when the words came through. Aryna Sabalenka, the world No. 1, the clear favorite to win this tournament, had just walked out of her post-match press conference and told the room she wanted to quit tennis. Williams heard it and felt something immediately.

“I was feeling sad, actually. I was kinda like, I got taken on her emotions. A lot of empathy for her. And she leaves it all on the court. You see everything she feels on the court,” Williams said on air. 

She paused before offering a gentle piece of advice. “Perhaps, maybe take a little more time if you need to before the press conference, because I don’t think she wants to quit tennis. That would be a tragedy for tennis and a tragedy for her.”

One of the most shocking collapses at the French Open in years led to the admission. Sabalenka had walked onto Court Philippe-Chatrier against 25th seed Diana Shnaider as the overwhelming favorite, with Coco Gauff, Iga Swiatek, and Elena Rybakina all out of the tournament before the quarterfinals. This draw was more open than ever for her.

She won the first set 6-3 and raced to a double break in the second, leading 4-1. She then served for the match at 5-4. She did not win another game. Shnaider took the next ten games in a row to win 3-6, 7-5, 6-0, and Sabalenka stood at the net, having lost one of the most extraordinary matches of her career. 

“No thoughts, no emotions. Just want to quit tennis right now,” she said when the moderator asked for her first reaction. “But we’ll see in a few days. Hopefully I’ll get back on track mentally.”

She described the feeling of losing ten consecutive games in a Grand Slam quarterfinal. “I don’t know when the last time was that I lost ten games in a row. I guess mentally I got into a very deep, dark hole over there, and I just couldn’t get back on track mentally.” 

She was hard on herself throughout. “I am so tired of me losing some matches not in the best way just because I was overemotional.”

Williams recognized exactly what she was watching. “When you lose it’s just so, like, ugh. The inner struggle is real. I like that she lets us in, lets us be a part of her world in that way,” she said. 

Then she went to the heart of it. “What happened today happens to every player at some point in time. And it hurts. The worst part is that you let your own self down. And to deal with letting yourself down is the hardest thing in the world. If you just get beat, you just got beat. If somebody wiped you off the court, you got beat, they played better. You can deal with that. But right now she’s dealing with her own disappointment. It’s hard to sleep at night with that.”

She closed with perspective. “What I’ll also say is that any of us would take the year she’s had. I think she’s just amplifying in this moment. But she’s had a great year. I don’t think she should have any regrets. This should make her stronger.”

It’s not the first time the French Open has done that to the Belarusian. In the 2025 final, she led Coco Gauff before unraveling in almost identical fashion. In 2024, she exited in the quarterfinals against Mirra Andreeva. Apart from the French Open, in January, she lost a close final to Elena Rybakina. In 2025, she had lost another Australian Open final against Madison Keys.

Sabalenka has been the undisputed world No. 1 for a while now, but in crunch moments, sometimes she is unable to close things out. With her dominance on the tour, she should have won more Grand Slams than she has already won, something that disappoints her a lot. 

The pattern is clear: Sabalenka has never won Roland Garros, and each tournament ends in disappointment for the Russian.

Shnaider stuns the world No. 1 as wind plays its part at Philippe-Chatrier

Jun 3, 2026; Paris, France; Aryna Sabalenka reacts during her match against Diana Shnaider on day 11 at Stade Roland Garros. Mandatory Credit: Susan Mullane-Imagn Images“I don’t know why they would keep the roof open when it was crazy windy,” she said, before catching herself. “But how can I complain if almost for the whole match everything was working okay for me, and then it just slipped away?”

The second set was where the match turned structurally. She had multiple break points but lost all of them, and Shnaider capitalized and took control. 

“I felt like mentally I couldn’t really recover after the second set. I think that was the mistake for me,” Sabalenka said. 

Shnaider was able to break through and never looked back. The 22-year-old Russian, who knocked out Madison Keys in the previous round, put on the game of her life when it mattered most, refusing to break serve while Sabalenka’s errors multiplied around her. Just to put that in perspective, Sabalenka’s 57 unforced errors vs. Shnaider’s 26 gifted nearly 30 points to her opponent, which added up fast. 

Sabalenka’s collapse mirrored last year’s final vs. Coco Gauff: she shouted at herself, glared at her box, and lost. It was the same court, a similar position of control, and the same outcome. 

Shnaider has progressed to the semi-finals, where she faces Polish qualifier Maja Chwalinska. Sabalenka takes her hard-earned experience from Paris away with the same question she has been carrying for years, and with Venus Williams’ words trailing behind her.

The loss prompted her to say she wants to quit the sport. Hopefully, she bounces back at Wimbledon with renewed focus.