‘I just played two games on that side’ — Aryna Sabalenka frustrated as Rebeka Masarova cancels match due to slippery courts at Berlin Open

BERLIN, GERMANY: Top athlete Aryna Sabalenka did not hide her frustration when her match against Rebeka Masarova was first suspended, then cancelled at the Berlin Ladies Open due to complaints about poor lighting and a slippery court. 

The athlete won the first set with a scoreline of 6-2 when the umpire halted the match. Her opponent, Masarova, was the one who requested to stop the match, and it was granted the way she wanted. With this Sabalenka expressed angrily: “You are stopping the match because she says that side is slippery? I just played two games on that side.” 

This news was made worse because the previous match between Liudmila Samsonova and Jessica Pegula took more than three hours to finish. Samsonova won against the American with a final scoreline of 6-7 (8/10), 7-5, 7-6 (7/5) in a match that featured two tie-breaks.

Moreover, this incident happened days after Sabalenka lost to Gauff in the French Open final. Sabalenka described that match as “the worst final” she’d ever played, and she remarked back then: “I don’t think she won the match because she played incredibly well, but because I made all those mistakes.”

However, before the Berlin Open, Sabalenka admitted to Eurosport that her comments were unprofessional and declared: “I let my emotions guide me. I absolutely regret what I said.”

In a social media post made by The Tennis Letter, it stated: “Sabalenka and Masarova’s match in Berlin was stopped due to the court getting slippery… Rebeka wanted to stop play… Aryna wanted to continue..” 

Netizens expressed their thoughts and opinions on the post in the comments section: “Showing favouritism to one player. Not good”, “It wasn’t slippery….yet… The match was stopped because Masarova was down a set and there was a theoretical chance of it becoming slippery”, Sabalenka pulling much drama lately. Went over the Gauff incident and now Masarova”, and “I mean, Rebeka was losing so.. we all know why she wanted to stop the match.” 

Aryna Sabalenka aims to win a WTA title on grass for the very first time. She has missed playing at Wimbledon in two of the last three years. However, it is evident that her powerful playing style compliments the complexities of the grass courts. Moreover, the Berlin Open, which is one of the world’s oldest women’s tennis competitions, has shifted from clay to grass courts back in 2021. Since then, it has been a warm-up event for Wimbledon, which usually takes place in June.