'She was simply a better player': Sabalenka on falling short at the US Open

The only thing Aryna Sabalenka felt she had going for her in Satuday's US Open final against Elena Rybakina was the fervent support of 23,000 fans inside Arthur Ashe Stadium.

"Actually, at some point I felt like, 'Oh, my God, I feel American over there,'" she said after a stinging 6-4, 5-7, 6-2 defeat to her archrival. "I just wish I could, you know, win it and feel the support even more. Yeah, not this year."

Having already been assured of losing her grasp on World No. 1 to the woman across the net next week, Sabalenka had been bidding to become the first woman since Serena Williams in 2012-14 -- and just the third since 1968 -- to win three straight US Open titles. But the top seed cut a frustrated figure throughout the 2-hour and 21-minute tilt inside Arthur Ashe Stadium.

She hit more unforced errors than winners, hit a ball out of the stadium in frustration early in the first set, and bounced her racquet on the court more than once as Rybakina wrestled the match from her grasp. Sabalenka only created three break point chances in the entire match, all of which came as she clawed her way back into the match late in the second set. 

That, coupled with Rybakina's clinical stat line -- 12 aces, 36 winners, and 24 unforced errors -- left Sabalenka characterizing her own effort as "not good enough."

"I'm obviously not really happy with the level I played today, but she served incredible," Sabalenka said. "She played really aggressive, great tennis. Yeah, she was simply a better player today than me.

"I was just out there competing, trying to do my best with what I had there today."

Sabalenka's dominant start to 2026 gave way to frustrating finishes -- particularly on the biggest stages. But with the No. 1 ranking officially changing hands Monday, she isn't about to let another painful loss shape what comes next. 

"I think any [time] when you go out there, you have target on your back. Doesn't matter if you are No. 1, No. 2, 3, 4, whatever it is," she said. "I'll just keep working hard and keep improving my tennis, my level. Hopefully I will win some more tournaments.

"There's lots of things to take from this tournament. I mean, as experience shows, that I only come back stronger and all of these lessons this season definitely already made me stronger, but definitely going to motivate me for the next year to do better job."

One of those likely will involve solving Rybakina with a trophy on the line. Though Sabalenka still leads their all-time head-to-head series 10-8, Rybakina holds a 5-2 in title matches.

After being informed that she was in the top spot for 99 consecutive weeks -- sixth in the Open Era -- to bring her career total to 107, Sabalenka laughed at the thought that, for now, she still had one thing to hold over Rybakina.

"Let's see if Elena can beat me in that," she quipped, before adding: "She continue[s] to play like that, then yeah, I'm in trouble."