With top contenders like defending champion Coco Gauff, four-time Roland Garros winner Iga Świątek, and world No. 2 Elena Rybakina having crashed out of the 2026 French Open, Aryna Sabalenka remained the clear favorite to clinch her maiden title at the Major. However, the world No. 1’s title bid came to a stunning halt with a loss in the quarterfinals.
While Sabalenka’s exit was shocking in itself, it was the nature of the loss that drew strong reactions from Andy Roddick, Steve Johnson, and Sam Querrey.
Why Aryna Sabalenka’s French Open Collapse Is Drawing Heavy Scrutiny
Sabalenka looked on course for a comfortable victory after surging to a 6-3, 4-1 lead against Diana Shnaider, who was competing in her maiden Grand Slam quarterfinal. However, amid challenging windy conditions, Shnaider raised her level and mounted an impressive comeback to claim a 3-6, 7-5, 6-0 victory. The world No. 1, meanwhile, racked up 57 unforced errors during the 2-hour, 12-minute encounter.
Andy Roddick analyzed the four-time Grand Slam champion’s loss during a recent episode of his “Served” podcast, calling the performance very uncharacteristic. While making a point to acknowledge Sabalenka’s remarkable success, the American also highlighted the visible frustration she displayed on the court.
“This was unlike anything I’ve seen from Aryna,” Roddick said. “She’s better than 99% of the people plus that will criticize her for today. And I don’t know that I’ve ever seen her fade out of a match like that in my life. A set and 4-1 and then she lost a couple points and it was like, visibly frustrated. She was ready to tick, ready to check out, and then it went so fast.”
Roddick also called attention to the world No. 1’s apparent lack of fight once she began struggling, suggesting that she faded mentally during the contest.
“From there, when it went sideways, it went sideways. There was no, ‘Okay you let this get away. Let’s dig back in.’ There was no commitment to pain, commitment to maybe an allowance or a patience for yourself. I hadn’t seen that from from Sabalenka in a long, long time,” he added. “Two things can be true. I think she’s been as mentally tough as anyone on tour in the last three years, and today she went away mentally.”
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Steve Johnson expressed similar sentiments on the “Nothing Major” podcast, where he described Sabalenka’s display in the decider as a “complete implosion” and called it “strange” by her standards.
“Unlike Shnaider’s last match where she won 6-0 in the third, this was a complete implosion on Sabalenka’s behalf. Once the third set started, like, okay, she’ll kind of figure it out. And 5 minutes later, I look back and it’s basically already 5-0. I was like, what just happened? Just strange to see Sabalenka go away like that. I haven’t seen that from her before,” Johnson said.
Sam Querrey concurred, remarking it was a rare occasion to see the world No. 1 “mentally collapse.”
“Yes, it was windy, but Sabalenka just got frustrated, got into a dark place when she didn’t win that second. Just was one of the few times we saw her mentally collapse,” Querrey said.
Aryna Sabalenka candidly acknowledged the frustration she was feeling after her defeat during her post-match press conference, disclosing she planned to spend the following day “destroying stuff” at a Rage Room to let off steam. The Belarusian will then aim to move past the disappointment with the grass-court season looming.
