Aryna Sabalenka smashes net in Wimbledon outburst; says she nearly told box ‘Book the tickets’ before dodging upset

Aryna Sabalenka smashed the net in anger and nearly gave up, thinking “book the tickets,” before rallying to win a tense Wimbledon quarterfinal.

World No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka avoided repeating her French Open final mistakes, keeping her emotions in check during a tumultuous Wimbledon quarterfinal win over No. 104 Laura Siegemund on Tuesday. But for much of the match, the Belarusian was visibly frustrated, even contemplating at one point that her 2025 campaign in London might be over.

Aryana Sabalenka of Belarus reacts after losing a point against Laura Siegemund of Germany during a quarterfinal women's singles match at Wimbledon (AP)

The first sign of frustration came after the opening set, where Siegemund prevailed. "She pushed me so much and, honestly, after the first set, I was just looking at my box thinking: 'Guys, book the tickets, I think we're about to leave this beautiful city and country,'" admitted Sabalenka after the match.

Although she stormed back in the second set to regain control, the 37-year-old broke her twice in the decider, leaving Sabalenka visibly enraged. Trailing 1-3 in the third set, she was playing catch-up when she set up a perfect down-the-line winner into an open left corridor—only to fire it wide, drawing gasps from the crowd. But Centre Court's reaction quickly turned into disapproving murmurs as Sabalenka, in a moment of meltdown, furiously smashed the top of the net with her racquet.

BBC commentator Tracy Austin said: "That's what happens when Siegemund is so good at defence - players, opponents start to press too close to the lines out of respect."

The chair umpire intervened to calm the crowd down, before Sabalenka regained composure by holding serve and then getting the break back en route to surviving a mighty scare.

Wimbledon is the only Grand Slam tournament where Sabalenka has never been to a title match. The 27-year-old lost in the semifinals at Wimbledon in 2021 and 2023. However, she can change that this week if she beats No. 13 Amanda Anisimova of the United States on Thursday. Anisimova reached her first major semifinal since the 2019 French Open, when she was just 17, by getting past Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 6-1, 7-6 (9).

Sabalenka remains the only top-five-seeded player left in the singles draw. Coco Gauff, fresh from her French Open title win last month, suffered a shock first-round exit, and so did third seed Jessica Pegula and Olympic gold-medallist Zheng Qinwen, while last year's runner-up Jasmine Paolini was sent packing after the second round.

Among the top-10 players, Iga Swiatek and Mirra Andreeva remain in the draw. The No. 7 seed will face Belinda Bencic in the quarterfinal on Wednesday, while Swiatek will take on No. 19 Liudmila Samsonova to make the semifinal in London for the first time in her career.