"It took me, like, a week to finally move on": Aryna Sabalenka admits Australian Open 2025 final defeat one of the toughest of her career

World number one Aryna Sabalenka has revealed that losing the final of the Australian Open 2025 was one of the toughest defeats of her career. The 26-year-old is regarded as one of the best players currently playing in women’s tennis in the singles category, along with the likes of Poland’s Iga Swiatek and America’s Coco Gauff.

Sabalenka had a tough beginning to her 2025 season as for the first time in three years, she failed to win the first Grand Slam of the year. She lost in the final of the Australian Open to America’s Madison Keys with a score of 6-3, 2-6, 7-5. It was her first defeat in Melbourne after 20 consecutive wins in the competition.

Sabalenka, who is now set to feature in the upcoming WAT 1000 event, Indian Wells, has been quoted in a report in which she admitted that her defeat in the Australian Open final was one of the toughest in her career. She said it took her over a week to overcome that result.

“I had some tough losses in the past, but that one was tough to accept, to be honest,” she said. “It took me, like, a week and maybe a little bit longer than that to stop thinking and to finally move on. I'd say that lesson learned and it's in the past. It's always -- not always actually, but it's good to have these tough losses because next time you're going to do much better.”

Sabalenka had tough few events after the Australian Open as well. She lost in the first round of the Qatar Open second round of the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championship. Sabalenka was of the opinion that those results might well be a blessing in disguise as they gave her more opportunity to rest. “It’s been like three years I couldn’t do well in Middle East,” she said. “It’s a good problem to have, because I went really far at the Australian Open, so I was kind of like exhausted every time I’m in Middle East. February is not my month, I believe.”