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Aryna Sabalenka is no stranger to losing her cool during a tennis match, but the world No. 1 may have took it a bit too far during a heated match against American Jessica Pegula.
It was a semifinal women’s singles match at the Wuhan Open in China where Sabalenka, frustrated after her backhand went out of bounds, threw her tennis racket onto the court.
While it’s not uncommon for tennis players to show frustration, Sabalenka’s racket throw nearly hit a ballboy near the umpire’s chair, which led to some stern words from Sky Sports broadcasting team.
“That is dangerous territory for Sabalenka, this semifinal has exploded into life in the last 10 to 15 minutes,” a broadcaster said, per The Sun.
“Sabalenka gets a warning for the racket abuse, but she is lucky it is not more.”
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Sabalenka was likely trying to throw the racket toward her bench, but the ballboy was standing in between there and the umpire’s chair. Video showed her quickly put her hand up to acknowledge wrongdoing.
At the time, the match was in a dead heat with the third set tied 5-5 after Sabalenka lost three straight games to Pegula. She went on to lose the 11th game, and though she battled back to force a tiebreak, she fell to Pegula.
Sabalenka, the reigning U.S. Open winner, would lose 2-6, 6-4, 7-6 (7-2) to Pegula, who moved on to the final against fellow American Coco Gauff. Pegula fell to Gauff in straight sets, 6-4, 7-5.
The 27-year-old Sabalenka has had fits of frustration boil over in past matches, and some were wondering why it was “crickets” on the court considering this one almost injured a bystander.
“How did Sabalenka not get a warning for throwing her racquet?” one X user wrote. “She almost hit a ball kid too, could have been a disqualification. [Iga] Swiatek would have been burnt at the stake for this.”
This tournament came after Sabalenka defended her U.S. Open crown last month. She collected her fourth Grand Slam title in a season where she could’ve had more.
Sabalenka fell in the Australian and French Open finals, while exiting Wimbledon in the semifinals.
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