Critic Of Aryna Sabalenka Furiously Accused Of Sexism By Serena Williams's Ex-Coach

Sunday, 03 August 2025 at 22:58

byJordan Reynolds

Rennae Stubbs, a former doubles world No. 1 who also briefly coached Serena Williams, is known for her blunt honesty as an analyst. That was shown in how she reacted to criticism of Aryna Sabalenka.

Sabalenka was one of many players who withdrew from the 2025 Canadian Open. The WTA world No. 1 cited fatigue as the reason after playing many matches so far this season, including seven finals.

Although losing someone of Sabalenka's caliber undoubtedly hurt the women's singles in Montreal, the damage was much more significant on the men's side in Toronto. Jannik Sinner, Carlos Alcaraz, and Novak Djokovic all removed themselves from the entry list.

In total, 15 ATP players withdrew from the Canada Open. That was more than the eight women who elected not to play in the 1000-level tournament, although that is still a high number for an important event.

Kamil Patel, best known for his career-high ATP doubles ranking of world No. 328, decided to ignore all the men who withdrew from the Canadian Open and just focus on slamming Sabalenka for naming fatigue as her reason for not competing.

"This can't be true! So one of the highest paid athletes in the world with a team of physios, fitness trainers and coaches who plays best of 3, gets 2 days rest between matches in Slams, and M1000s, doesn't play doubles and still manages fatigue? The problem can't be the schedule."

Rennae Stubbs gave a fiery response to Aryna Sabalenka's hater

As usual, the Australian did not hold back in her reply to Patel on X. She slammed him for having nothing to say about any of the men who withdrew and believes Patel's issue is actually with women.

"You clearly have a problem with women. I don’t see you complaining and going after all the men that pulled out of Canada. U seem very clear with your hate."

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Patel might claim that he was speaking specifically about fatigue, which applies to Sabalenka. The ATP players who withdrew from the Canadian Open had a range of other reasons for skipping the tournament.

However, calling out Sabalenka specifically for not playing seemed quite uncalled for, considering so many other players did the same thing. That made Stubbs's blunt response and belief that sexism played a role in Patel's comments understandable.

Stubbs has a history of being brutally honest

When Stubbs has something on her mind, she does not hide it, making the multiple-time Grand Slam doubles champion a refreshing voice with a style and perspective respected by fans worldwide.

Another example was Stubbs slamming Alexander Zverev for saying Lorenzo Musetti relies more on opponents making mistakes than being aggressive after losing to him at the 2025 Italian Open.

Stubbs absolutely tore Zverev in response, pointing to his hypocrisy since the German is known for becoming tight and defensive in the latter stages of Grand Slams. She slammed him as a "pu**y" and said he should focus on himself instead of others.

It can almost be guaranteed that this will not be Stubbs's last time being completely honest and generating attention as a result.