'It Was Me Against Me': Sabalenka Disappointed After 'Letting' Andreeva 'Play Better'
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Aryna Sabalenka wasn't very happy about her loss in the 2025 Indian Wells Open final. She thought it was all because of her.
Sabalenka was the favorite to win the final at the WTA 1000 event in Indian Wells. She wasn't the favorite only because she's the World No. 1 player, but also because of her history with her final opponent.
The Belarusian played against Mirra Andreeva five times, and she beat her on four occasions. On top of that, Sabalenka's only loss came when she was ill during their meeting at the French Open.
Apart from that, she was extremely dominant against the teenager, and it wouldn't be a surprise if she dominated against Andreeva also in the Indian Wells Open final. In fact, early on, she did.
Sabalenka won the first set of the match 6-2, and it seemed that she was cruising to yet another trophy. But surprisingly, Andreeva rallied back to win the match in three sets, beating the top seed 2-6, 6-4, 6-3.
The World No. 1 player was understandably frustrated after the match. During her post-match press conference, Sabalenka managed to find some positives but also mentioned how disappointed she was.
"I enjoyed every day here. It felt like two weeks of paradise, and I'm actually really sad leaving this place, and especially after this final. Not really happy, first of all, with leaving, and secondly with the result. But it is how it is. Anyway, happy with the tennis I played before the finals."
After that, Sabalenka was asked about whether she was surprised by her opponent's performance. Andreeva beat Elena Rybakina and Iga Swiatek in Indian Wells, and she did that also in Dubai.
Sabalenka, however, was brutally honest when assessing the match. She said that she allowed the teenager to get back into the match by not playing at her highest level.
"No, not really. Honestly, was me against me. I mean, I made a lot of unforced errors on important points, and I just let her play a little bit better. At the beginning, everything was going quite straightforward, and then I just made a couple mistakes."
"She kind of like believed in herself. After that, I started playing much worse, and I was just trying to find my rhythm back, but it didn't work this time."
It was clear that Sabalenka was angry with herself. She knew she had the cards to win the match, but she didn't play her hand well.
"For me, today, for example, I was just too pis**d with myself, because I think, it shouldn't be the way I finished and I was just pis**d with myself. I should have just thrown that aggression on that side instead of being too much, too hard on myself."
"So I wasn't really caring about what she was doing. I knew what she was going to do, and nothing really surprised me. It's more just like about me controlling my anger a little bit better."
The 26-year-old Belarusian will have a chance to improve her results at the upcoming Miami Open. She will be the top seed once again.
