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Aryna Sabalenka accused of 'disgusting, classless' gesture at Australian Open runners-up trophy in viral post-match clip
Aryna Sabalenka suffered a shock 6-3, 2-6, 7-5 defeat at the hands of Madison Keys, the No 19 seed, in the summit clash.
Australian Open 2025 runner-up Aryna Sabalenka found herself in deep water after a video of her went viral after the end of the women's singles final on Saturday. The Belarusian suffered a shock 6-3, 2-6, 7-5 defeat at the hands of Madison Keys, the No 19 seed, in the summit clash.
Sabalenka, who was touted to become the first woman in this century to complete a three-peat in Melbourne, was left infuriated after the loss as she smashed her racquet at the end of the match, before storming off the court before the start of the post-match presentation.
Later, a video emerged from the locker room emerged after the presentation ceremony on the Rod Laver Arena, captioned: ‘Let’s all pee on it.' The video showed Sabalenka, her boyfriend Georgios Frangulis and her fitness coach Jason Stacy looking at the runners-up trophy, which was placed on the floor, pretended to urinate on it.
The viral video left fans disgusted as they slammed the world no. 1 for her "classless" act and called for Tennis Australia to ban her from the next edition of the Australian Open.
After the match, she said: “I think when you get to the point of finals, it’s trophy or nothing. Nobody remembers the finalist, you know? Nobody put, like, next to the winner, the finalist name.
“At this point, yeah, I go for titles. Of course, I have to be anyway proud of myself with the finals, three finals in a row. That’s something crazy. I hope that next year I’ll come back as a better player, and I’ll hold Daphne [the Daphne Akhurst Memorial Cup] one more time.”
Australian Open women's winner Keys returned to her career-best ranking on Monday and joined three other American women - Coco Gauff (No. 3), Jessica Pegula (No. 6) and Emma Navarro, who slipped one place to No. 9 - in the WTA top 10. She moved from No. 14 to a career-high No. 7. Meanwhile, Sabalenka remained at No. 1, and Iga Swiatek stayed at No. 2 after her loss to Keys in a thrilling semifinal.
