No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka shrugs off her recent struggles as she seeks a third straight US Open title

NEW YORK (AP) — Aryna Sabalenka has appeared to be having fun everywhere but the tennis court lately.

Her Instagram account is filled with photos where she is fashionably dressed in beautiful settings, or lounging in a bikini in relaxing ones. Life looks great.

On the court, it's as bad as it's been in a while.

The top-ranked women's player hasn't even gotten past the fourth round of her last few tournaments, and she hardly looks ready to become the first player to win three straight U.S. Open titles since Serena Williams from 2012-14.

Sabalenka doesn't sound concerned. She sounds defiant.

Her response to those wondering what's wrong with her game: “Maybe there’s something wrong with people,” she said.

To those who don't like the black mesh-covered outfit she's wearing on the court in New York: “Who cares about people, right? All matters for me is that I love it,” Sabalenka responded.

Sabalenka looked headed for a superb season at the start of the year. She lost in the Australian Open final to Elena Rybakina, but then won back-to-back hard-court titles at Indian Wells and Miami. Even after she was knocked out by Naomi Osaka in the fourth round at Wimbledon, it was assumed Sabalenka would quickly return to form when she came back to North America and the hard courts where her power is so tough to handle.

Then she was upset by Ekaterina Alexandrova in the fourth round in Toronto and blew leads in both sets and was ousted by Sara Bejlek in Cincinnati, appearing frustrated at times with her game the way she used to earlier in her career.

She won't specify what was wrong, but hinted that everything wasn't right.

“It wasn’t the best period. I don’t want to defend myself, but obviously I just don’t want to talk about that period. I’ve been dealing with several things,” Sabalenka said.

“But who cares, right? Yeah, I didn’t perform my best. These tough lessons are definitely going to make me way, way stronger and working even harder. I work on my mental side of the game. I was trying to reset my mind and to come back stronger, so it’s only going to make me stronger. It’s only a matter of time for me to come back.”

It wouldn't be a surprise if it was in New York, where she won the title for the first time in 2024 by beating Jessica Pegula in the final. She defended it last year by topping Amanda Anisimova.

Reaching the top has given the 28-year-old from Belarus plenty of benefits off the court. Endorsement deals and photo shoots. Vacations during the season to Greece with her fiance.

It gives critics who see Sabalenka detail all of that on social media the opportunity to question whether it's too much fun and not enough work.

“She’s still No. 1 in the world. So I think the results are there,” said Paula Badosa, Sabalenka's friend on tour who has been pictured in some of those photos with her.

“Of course, everyone is going to expect for her to win every tournament. That’s very, very difficult. And at the moment, that one player is not winning what they expected. Of course, they’re saying that it’s because of the photo shoots or the TikToks and all this stuff, and I’m not going to lie, she’s been doing that since she was maybe out of the top 100. And when she was winning, nobody says anything, you know? And when she loses a couple of matches, it’s because of that. I think it’s none of it.”

The No. 1 ranking is in jeopardy after Sabalenka's summer swoon. She may need to make a deep run in New York with the likes of Rybakina and Pegula gaining on her.

Sabalenka has done it before. She may be down now but doesn't sound like she plans to stay there.

“Well, that’s the beauty of the sport,” she said. “Throw tough challenges at me, I will come back only stronger.”

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