Aryna Sabalenka - Overrated?

T

tennnisfanatic

Rookie
I'm watching the WTA Finals. I know, shame on me right? At least according to all the male chauvinists here.

Anyway Aryna lost the first set to Rybakina. She obviously can come back and win the match. But it won't change the fact she lost so many matches late in grand slams often in crushing and humiliating fashion where she was the favorite going into the tournament.

But watching Aryna get schooled out there got me thinking about the conversation we were having about Sinner and his dominance. Where his results just don't show dominance as he is always getting schooled by Carlos.

I've heard the same type of thing about Aryna recently. Roddick even mentioned something about it on his podcast and I'm just not seeing it.

For Aryna it's even worse. At least Sinner has won two slams in 2025 and made all four finals. And he has a good shot at winning the ATP Finals 2025.

For Aryna I can think of at least 5 or 6 major events where she went into the tournament as a pretty big favored and sh*t the bed VERY badly.

If anything Aryna at least to me Aryna has been more of a choke artist and shown a very weak mentality than any type of true dominance.

By the way this isn't about Rybakina dominance as she obviously don't have the results but no doubt she is a more talented player than Sabalenka. I'm not sure why she hasn't been able to get better results.

Back to more question. How can Sabalenka be considered dominant when she lose more big matches than she win? It doesn't make sense.
 
She can be considered dominant because she goes deep in WTA events with a frequency like nobody else for years. I think you have to go back to Serena for someone who was consistently good for this long.

For the last 3 years she has only once failed to make the SF at a slam. It is easy to take that for granted when we look at the mens game for the past 20 years, but that is dominance. Being dominant is not just about winning finals, it is about winning day in and day out, whoever you play, wherever you play.

She has tightened up a whole bunch of times once she gets to the final 4/final 2, but that is still better than not getting there at all.
 
Lol. So let me get this straight. I remember the talk all year was how good Sabalenka was in tiebreaks. She had won what seem like a million in a row. Then when she needed to win the tiebreak to stay in the match at the WTA Finals to win a title she's never won before she played just about the worst tiebreak I've ever seen anybody play. Didn't win a single point.

This is exactly what I was saying and thinking in my original post. How do you with that serve not win a single point on it? Insane, crazy choke job.

If this was my first time watching Aryna & Rybakina I would of thought Rybakina was the 4 time grand slam champion.

Maybe we should Rybakina in against Kyrgios because she just manhandled Sabalenka. Overpowered her. Elena has so much power and her technique and strokes are so clean and pure especially the serve.
 
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Just watched Aryna choke another slam final after leading 3-0 in the final set no less.

So add AO 2026 as another slam where Sabalenka was the favorite coming in and leaves without the title. Besides the slams she was the favorite for the last three WTA Finals none of which she won either.

Will be interesting to see if she goes into FO 2026, Wimbledon 2026 and USO 2026 as the favorite and if so how she will fare.

Like I have maintained for years Sabalenka has had the better career but Rybakina is the superior player. Not that is anything Rybakina will jumping up and down for joy over. But it is what it is.
 
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tennnisfanatic said:
Just watched Aryna choke another slam final after leading 3-0 in the final set no less.

So add AO 2026 as another slam where Sabalenka was the favorite coming in and leaves without the title. Besides the slams she was the favorite for the last three WTA Finals none of which she won either.

Will be interesting to see if she goes into FO 2026, Wimbledon 2026 and USO 2026 as the favorite and if so how she will fare.

Like I have maintained for years Sabalenka has had the better career but Rybakina is the superior player. Not that is anything Rybakina will jumping up and down for joy over. But it is what it is.
Click to expand...

tennnisfanatic said:
Just watched Aryna choke another slam final after leading 3-0 in the final set no less.

So add AO 2026 as another slam where Sabalenka was the favorite coming in and leaves without the title. Besides the slams she was the favorite for the last three WTA Finals none of which she won either.

Will be interesting to see if she goes into FO 2026, Wimbledon 2026 and USO 2026 as the favorite and if so how she will fare.

Like I have maintained for years Sabalenka has had the better career but Rybakina is the superior player. Not that is anything Rybakina will jumping up and down for joy over. But it is what it is.
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Rybakina wouldn’t jump up and down whatever; one of the reasons I like her is her cool demeanour.
 
tennnisfanatic said:
Just watched Aryna choke another slam final after leading 3-0 in the final set no less.

So add AO 2026 as another slam where Sabalenka was the favorite coming in and leaves without the title. Besides the slams she was the favorite for the last three WTA Finals none of which she won either.

Will be interesting to see if she goes into FO 2026, Wimbledon 2026 and USO 2026 as the favorite and if so how she will fare.

Like I have maintained for years Sabalenka has had the better career but Rybakina is the superior player. Not that is anything Rybakina will jumping up and down for joy over. But it is what it is.
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yes, sabalenka is not strong mentally.
 
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tennnisfanatic said:
I'm watching the WTA Finals. I know, shame on me right? At least according to all the male chauvinists here.

Anyway Aryna lost the first set to Rybakina. She obviously can come back and win the match. But it won't change the fact she lost so many matches late in grand slams often in crushing and humiliating fashion where she was the favorite going into the tournament.

But watching Aryna get schooled out there got me thinking about the conversation we were having about Sinner and his dominance. Where his results just don't show dominance as he is always getting schooled by Carlos.

I've heard the same type of thing about Aryna recently. Roddick even mentioned something about it on his podcast and I'm just not seeing it.

For Aryna it's even worse. At least Sinner has won two slams in 2025 and made all four finals. And he has a good shot at winning the ATP Finals 2025.

For Aryna I can think of at least 5 or 6 major events where she went into the tournament as a pretty big favored and sh*t the bed VERY badly.

If anything Aryna at least to me Aryna has been more of a choke artist and shown a very weak mentality than any type of true dominance.

By the way this isn't about Rybakina dominance as she obviously don't have the results but no doubt she is a more talented player than Sabalenka. I'm not sure why she hasn't been able to get better results.

Back to more question. How can Sabalenka be considered dominant when she lose more big matches than she win? It doesn't make sense.
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cha cha said:
Nono.
She's very good at tennis.
Click to expand...

Well that wasn't the question. Yes, she is very good at tennis. But she was the HEAVY favored coming into this AO and lost the final from 3-0 in the final set.

This almost feel like Serena when she got to like 20 slams or so. She always had huge hype going into majors but failed spectacularly. At least Serena had the excuse of being old and the pressure of going for all time records. Not sure what Aryna problem is.

By the way I hope Rybakina can get to number 1 at some point this year. Even if its just for 1 week. Who would of thought Venus 11 weeks at number 1 in 2002 would be all she ever had in her career. Rybakina might be in a similar position, she'll be 27 y/o this year. She has the WTA Finals champion & AO champion points on her rankings with not alot to defend coming up. It would seem 2026 is now or never for her to get to number 1. Hopefully she does it.
 
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tennnisfanatic said:
Well that wasn't the question. Yes, she is very good at tennis. But she was the HEAVY favored coming into this AO and lost the final from 3-0 in the final set.

This almost feel like Serena when she got to like 20 slams or so. She always had huge hype going into majors but failed spectacularly. At least Serena had the excuse of being old and going for all time records. Not sure what Aryna problem is.

By the way I hope Rybakina can get to number 1 at some point this year. Even if its just for 1 week. Who would of thought Venus 11 weeks at number 1 in 2002 would be all she ever had in her career. Rybakina might be in a similar position, she'll be 27 y/o this year. She has the WTA Finals champion & AO champion points on her rankings with not alot to defend coming up. It would seem 2026 is now or never for her to get to number 1. Hopefully she does it.
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If memory serves, the odds were 2.5.
Swiatek, Gauf, Rybakina somewhere between 5 and 8.
Close to fair given the current state of the tour. Perhaps a little low on Sabs, but not catastrophically in my opinion.
 
tennnisfanatic said:
I'm watching the WTA Finals. I know, shame on me right? At least according to all the male chauvinists here.

Anyway Aryna lost the first set to Rybakina. She obviously can come back and win the match. But it won't change the fact she lost so many matches late in grand slams often in crushing and humiliating fashion where she was the favorite going into the tournament.

But watching Aryna get schooled out there got me thinking about the conversation we were having about Sinner and his dominance. Where his results just don't show dominance as he is always getting schooled by Carlos.

I've heard the same type of thing about Aryna recently. Roddick even mentioned something about it on his podcast and I'm just not seeing it.

For Aryna it's even worse. At least Sinner has won two slams in 2025 and made all four finals. And he has a good shot at winning the ATP Finals 2025.

For Aryna I can think of at least 5 or 6 major events where she went into the tournament as a pretty big favored and sh*t the bed VERY badly.

If anything Aryna at least to me Aryna has been more of a choke artist and shown a very weak mentality than any type of true dominance.

By the way this isn't about Rybakina dominance as she obviously don't have the results but no doubt she is a more talented player than Sabalenka. I'm not sure why she hasn't been able to get better results.

Back to more question. How can Sabalenka be considered dominant when she lose more big matches than she win? It doesn't make sense.
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Her mental part is highly questionable when things dont go her way, maybe the best underachiever of all time
 
I can deal with the shrieking (I have tinnitus, and have a hard time hearing higher frequencies…), and I can deal with her frustration when missing shots (she’s an excellent player, and likely expects to make every shot).

What I can’t deal with, and why I dislike her so much, is her attitude when an opponent hits a great shot. Either don’t react, or applaud a great shot. But don’t turn around and give a face that says “She shouldn’t be able to hit that shot! How dare she!”, as if she (Sabalenka) is the only one that can hit a great shot on the court.
 
tennnisfanatic said:
How can Sabalenka be considered dominant when she lose more big matches than she win? It doesn't make sense.
Click to expand...
tennnisfanatic said:
I'm watching the WTA Finals. I know, shame on me right? At least according to all the male chauvinists here.
Click to expand...
Seems you don't follow WTA enough. Since Serena Williams Women haven't had a clear star, like now Sinner and Alcaraz or before Djoker/Rafa/Fed in ATP. Sabalenka may be a better number one than Swiatek and judging by the way Rybakina has been playing these 4-5 months I see a new number one coming in this Kazakstan player. Keep in mind that Rybakina has beaten Sabalenka (in the final) a couple months ago in the WTA finals too. So, I don't think Sabalenka is overrated but that Rybakina has been underrated.
 
Sabalenka has gone to 6 consecutive hard court slam finals. And she won 4 of them. She is a monster on hard courts. However, she kind of reminds me of Sinner, when it comes down to closing out tough opponents in the 3rd set(5th set for Sinner). She is 2-5 vs top-10 opponents in the 3rd set of a slam match(1-3 on hard courts). Sinner is 1-7 in 5th sets of slams vs top-5 opponents.

Sabalenka isn’t an ATG in the clutch. But she will end up being an ATG player.

Note. Serena was 23-14 in 3rd sets of slam matches vs the top-10. That’s pretty darn good.

Seles vs a stone-cold killer in 3rd set in slam matches vs the top-10 until she got stabbed. To be fair to her, she came back 20 lbs heavier after the stabbing and never recovered.

Seles started out 7-2 in that metric. One loss was when she was 15 years old and ranked outside the top-20. That first loss was to world #1 Graf at her peak in 1989. The other loss was at Wimbledon to Garrison as a 16 year old. After the stabbing(and 20+ lbs heavier and 35 lbs heavier at her peak weight), she went 3-8.
 
I wouldn't say she is overrated. However, I think the Barty retirement and Osaka missing tournaments (and off court issues) a few years back helped open a few more GS opportunities for both Iga and Sabalenka.
 
Pheasant said:
Sabalenka has gone to 6 consecutive hard court slam finals. And she won 4 of them. She is a monster on hard courts. However, she kind of reminds me of Sinner, when it comes down to closing out tough opponents in the 3rd set(5th set for Sinner). She is 2-5 vs top-10 opponents in the 3rd set of a slam match(1-3 on hard courts). Sinner is 1-7 in 5th sets of slams vs top-5 opponents.

Sabalenka isn’t an ATG in the clutch. But she will end up being an ATG player.

Note. Serena was 23-14 in 3rd sets of slam matches vs the top-10. That’s pretty darn good.

Seles vs a stone-cold killer in 3rd set in slam matches vs the top-10 until she got stabbed. To be fair to her, she came back 20 lbs heavier after the stabbing and never recovered.

Seles started out 7-2 in that metric. One loss was when she was 15 years old and ranked outside the top-20. That first loss was to world #1 Graf at her peak in 1989. The other loss was at Wimbledon to Garrison as a 16 year old. After the stabbing(and 20+ lbs heavier and 35 lbs heavier at her peak weight), she went 3-8.
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Seven in a row now, and a 4-3 record. I think one very relevant factor is that she's only made one slam final at RG and WI combined, and she lost it. She is like Sinner in that respect, and they both made and lost their first non-hard court slam final at RG 2025. But him being younger than her gives him more chance of improving and of course he has now won Wimbledon.
 
What on Earth is the matter with her? She was 3-0 up in the decider and blew it!!!

Something seem to go wrong inside her head when she gets to a Slam final these days. Needs a shrink....pronto!
 
Hardly overrated, she already has a dream career better than most who've ever played the sport. She just doesn't have another gear or dimension to go into like the some of the ATG do. She didn't play badly at all today, but didn't have an answer for Rybakina's flat 135km/h forehands.

When Saba mixed it up a little more, and even tried the odd drop shot, she now the point. She didn't feel comfortable doing that from behind though. It's weird to me as she's a former doubles #1 and grand slam winner at doubles too. Added to the fact that Rybakina is terrible at the net. Basically, she just doesn't have a plan B.
 
Not overrated no.
She’s #1 in the world and is always in finals or SFs.
She made 3 GS finals LY and Wimbledon semis but won one GS. She’s the most consistent player on tour.
Rybakina has #1 potential but not consistent enough. Iga is great but also not as consistent as she used to be. Australia still a concern for her.

You see it with Sabalanka in the losses: it’s like she doesn’t know how an inferior talent beat her (coco, Amanda, Mira are examples of her poor sportsmanship last year). She can hit many players off the court but can be mentally rattled when the opposition is moving to her high pace shots and redirecting and playing longer rallies.
 
Pheasant said:
Sabalenka has gone to 6 consecutive hard court slam finals. And she won 4 of them. She is a monster on hard courts. However, she kind of reminds me of Sinner, when it comes down to closing out tough opponents in the 3rd set(5th set for Sinner). She is 2-5 vs top-10 opponents in the 3rd set of a slam match(1-3 on hard courts). Sinner is 1-7 in 5th sets of slams vs top-5 opponents.

Sabalenka isn’t an ATG in the clutch. But she will end up being an ATG player.

Note. Serena was 23-14 in 3rd sets of slam matches vs the top-10. That’s pretty darn good.

Seles vs a stone-cold killer in 3rd set in slam matches vs the top-10 until she got stabbed. To be fair to her, she came back 20 lbs heavier after the stabbing and never recovered.

Seles started out 7-2 in that metric. One loss was when she was 15 years old and ranked outside the top-20. That first loss was to world #1 Graf at her peak in 1989. The other loss was at Wimbledon to Garrison as a 16 year old. After the stabbing(and 20+ lbs heavier and 35 lbs heavier at her peak weight), she went 3-8.
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Womans atg discourse have no clear standards, the volatility is too high and frequent
 
DF tennis said:
And yet it's more interesting and more exciting than the ATP tour where Sinner and Alcaraz are dominating.
Click to expand...

Nope. The standard of tennis isn't even close. Show me a equivalent WTA match to the Sinner v Djokovic AO2026 match for instance.

The current era of women's tennis is awful.
 
tennnisfanatic said:
I'm watching the WTA Finals. I know, shame on me right? At least according to all the male chauvinists here.

Anyway Aryna lost the first set to Rybakina. She obviously can come back and win the match. But it won't change the fact she lost so many matches late in grand slams often in crushing and humiliating fashion where she was the favorite going into the tournament.

But watching Aryna get schooled out there got me thinking about the conversation we were having about Sinner and his dominance. Where his results just don't show dominance as he is always getting schooled by Carlos.

I've heard the same type of thing about Aryna recently. Roddick even mentioned something about it on his podcast and I'm just not seeing it.

For Aryna it's even worse. At least Sinner has won two slams in 2025 and made all four finals. And he has a good shot at winning the ATP Finals 2025.

For Aryna I can think of at least 5 or 6 major events where she went into the tournament as a pretty big favored and sh*t the bed VERY badly.

If anything Aryna at least to me Aryna has been more of a choke artist and shown a very weak mentality than any type of true dominance.

By the way this isn't about Rybakina dominance as she obviously don't have the results but no doubt she is a more talented player than Sabalenka. I'm not sure why she hasn't been able to get better results.

Back to more question. How can Sabalenka be considered dominant when she lose more big matches than she win? It doesn't make sense.
Click to expand...
She's overrated, besides being a sore loser.
Thankfully, the quiet girl finished off the screamer from Minsk.
:love:
 
IMO she's not overrated. I say it all the time, but to even start an overrated/underrated thread, you have to propose what the player's current "rating" is. People hardly ever do this - so it's just a "vibes" discussion; a "I personally don't feel the same about this player as I THINK (but don't know) most people do" hot take.

IMO, Sabs "rating" is that she's seen as very good/great player; often complimented for being, for the past couple years, the most consistent Slam performer overall, but it's acknowledged that her emotions can overcome her and she can get nervy in tight situations which has led to some losses where she probably could have won. From that, I don't think she's overrated. But, my conclusion is from my starting point which doesn't have to be anyone else's starting point.
 
She’s a great player yes. As far as being an all time great, time will tell.
If Rybakina, Sabalenka, Anisimova and Iga can all stay healthy and improve consistency, mostly on the mental side, the WTA should be solid going forward.
 
tennnisfanatic said:
I'm watching the WTA Finals. I know, shame on me right? At least according to all the male chauvinists here.

Anyway Aryna lost the first set to Rybakina. She obviously can come back and win the match. But it won't change the fact she lost so many matches late in grand slams often in crushing and humiliating fashion where she was the favorite going into the tournament.

But watching Aryna get schooled out there got me thinking about the conversation we were having about Sinner and his dominance. Where his results just don't show dominance as he is always getting schooled by Carlos.

I've heard the same type of thing about Aryna recently. Roddick even mentioned something about it on his podcast and I'm just not seeing it.

For Aryna it's even worse. At least Sinner has won two slams in 2025 and made all four finals. And he has a good shot at winning the ATP Finals 2025.

For Aryna I can think of at least 5 or 6 major events where she went into the tournament as a pretty big favored and sh*t the bed VERY badly.

If anything Aryna at least to me Aryna has been more of a choke artist and shown a very weak mentality than any type of true dominance.

By the way this isn't about Rybakina dominance as she obviously don't have the results but no doubt she is a more talented player than Sabalenka. I'm not sure why she hasn't been able to get better results.

Back to more question. How can Sabalenka be considered dominant when she lose more big matches than she win? It doesn't make sense.
Click to expand...
I actually respect her as a player but she's clearly at times a sore @$$ loser. That I don't respect.
 
Overrated in people's subjective opinion perhaps, but WTA rankings are objective, hence there's no such thing as "overrated".
 
Tim Buktu said:
Nope. The standard of tennis isn't even close. Show me a equivalent WTA match to the Sinner v Djokovic AO2026 match for instance.

The current era of women's tennis is awful.
Click to expand...

The top men's is better sinner vs Alcaraz, but on the whole the WTA is more interesting at the moment, and has been for the past year or two. The men's tour beyond the top two and Novak (occasionally) has been pretty stale.

As for Sabalenka. People seemed to praise Barty as some exceptional talent. Yet non-peak Sabalenka has beat a peak Barty on a number of occasions, on both hard court and clay.
 
DF tennis said:
The top men's is better sinner vs Alcaraz, but on the whole the WTA is more interesting at the moment, and has been for the past year or two. The men's tour beyond the top two and Novak (occasionally) has been pretty stale.

As for Sabalenka. People seemed to praise Barty as some exceptional talent. Yet non-peak Sabalenka has beat a peak Barty on a number of occasions, on both hard court and clay.
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You clearly haven't watched much pro tennis. Current WTA is pure snooze fest with one dimensional flat baseline hitting. Even WTA players accept that it's one dimensional.


No one will even remember who Sabalenka is in 10 years time as her game is so dull. Kyrgios hungover, playing at 10% and messing about absolutely ruined her. That's how limited she is.
 
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