Aryna Sabalenka Left Heartbroken After French Open Exit, Says, 'Want to Quit Tennis Now'

Aryna Sabalenka opened up after losing in the French Open 2026 quarterfinal against Diana Shnaider. After the match, Sabalenka admitted she lost control mentally and found herself in a negative mindset as the contest slipped away.

The top-ranked player started the opening set on an impressive note as she raced to a 4-1 lead in the second with two breaks of serve. However, momentum quickly shifted as frustration crept into her game. Her level dropped dramatically, with a flood of unforced errors disrupting her rhythm, and she eventually suffered a stunning 3-6, 7-5, 6-0 defeat.

Aryna Sabalenka says, “She wants to quit tennis”

“Just want to quit tennis right now,” Sabalenka said. “We’ll see in few days. Hopefully I’ll get back on track mentally. I guess mentally I got into a very deep, deep, dark hole over there, and I just couldn’t get back mentally on track,” Sabalenka told reporters.

The 28-year-old Tennis icon has won a total of four Grand Slams in her career so far, and all of them have come on hard courts. She has suffered some of the most heartbreaking losses at the Roland Garros and the Wimbledon. Meanwhile, the loss against Shnaider in the quarterfinal might have also reminded her the loss against Coco Gauff in Paris last year.

“I really feel great on clay. I feel great on grass,” she said. “I think just maybe I’m focusing too much that I never won a Slam on each, you know, and maybe it’s kind of like making me overthink stuff, makes me overemotional at some moment.

“This is something that I actually have to kind of step back and kind of try to find a solution, because I just am so tired of me losing some matches not in the best way just because I was overemotional.”

This time in both the Men’s and Women’s singles draws category, a Tennis star will become a Grand Slam Champion. The Belarusian missed a golden opportunity to clinch her maiden French Open title.

Diana Shnaider will face Polish Maja Chwalinska in the French Open 2026 semifinals.