The most unpopular opinion about Aryna Sabalenka
Caitlin Thompson has made some rather unpopular statements about the Belarusian tennis player after the year she wants to forget.
Aryna Sabalenka is experiencing one of the most challenging seasons of her recent years. After her defeat in the US Open final against Elena Rybakina, the Belarusian tennis player has ended up without Grand Slams this season and has also lost the number 1 ranking to the Kazakh player. However, according to Caitlin Thompson, things will even get worse, as she believes that Sabalenka's best moment has already passed.
The creator of the magazine 'Racquet' has appeared on Rennae Stubbs' (Serena Williams' coach) podcast to discuss the current tennis landscape, and she did not hold back when speaking about the Belarusian player, stating that she is in free fall. In fact, Thompson has dared to predict that Sabalenka will not win another Grand Slam, as she feels that the other players have already figured her out. An unpopular opinion that will stir controversy.
"I don’t think Sabalenka will win any more Grand Slams. I believe she is in decline. I think everyone else has already deciphered her, so she has proven to be very vulnerable in tough moments. Do you know who isn’t? Coco Gauff. She may not win every match or reach every final, but you know she will fight to the death," she stated. In fact, Stubbs herself disagreed about this, as she believes Aryna has enough talent to recover from this situation.
The biggest enemy of Sabalenka
The truth is that despite her crisis of results, play, and her very negative attitude for much of the season, Sabalenka has reached two Grand Slam finals. The bad news for her is that in both she faced an excellent Rybakina in her quest for the number 1 ranking and the Career Grand Slam (she only needs Roland Garros now). Still, Thompson sees her as very mentally fragile, so a lot will have to change for her opinion to be distorted.
“There’s something strange in her mind that I think is more revealing and concerning than when she had mental issues or the block in the semifinal a couple of years ago that she eventually overcame to reach the top. I believe she needs to make significant changes,” she concluded. It will be interesting to see how Sabalenka evolves from now until the end of the season, and how she prepares for a 2027 where she will need to pull a new version out of her sleeve to become the queen of the circuit again.
This is an automatic translation. You can read the original news, La opinión más impopular sobre Aryna Sabalenka