Aryna Sabalenka was in high spirits in the days leading up to her return to tennis at the 2024 Dubai Championships, but she lost her first match since the Australian Open.
The last time we saw the Belarusian play before the WTA 1000 tournament in Dubai was in Melbourne. She was dominating everybody en route to a second Grand Slam trophy, and many expected her to return with a bang once she rested up from that endeavor.
She managed to do that for a little bit as she cruised through her match against Donna Vekic but then found herself easily outplayed as the match went on. She lost the rhythm and never found it again, losing her first match since lifting the Australian Open trophy.
She was not happy about it, obviously, but she wouldn't adopt the narrative that some media members suggested after the match, essentially blaming her Australian Open win and everything that followed for the early exit in Dubai.
"I wouldn’t say that it’s difficult because of my Australian Open win. I had enough time to rest, recharge and start everything over again. I feel like the conditions here do not fit me well at all. It’s really tricky for me to be here in Dubai. It’s a tricky court for me."
Sabalenka made a fair point. She stepped away from the sport for a while, but she needed to recharge her batteries. It would be unreasonable to say she wasn't prepared for the match against Vekic, but she did kind of lose focus midway through it.
The conditions might have played a part in it, but she's played really well in Doha, for example, in the past, and they're not that different. In any case, she lost the match, and now fans will have to wait until Indian Wells likely to see her again.
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