It wasn’t going to be a repeat of the Roland Garros press conference. Aryna Sabalenka had made up her mind. She just didn’t want to face the kind of “hate” she got after her comments on Coco Gauff following the French Open final. And so, she praised her opponent, Amanda Anisimova, as “the better player.” But then again, there were a couple of things about the American that the World No. 1 couldn’t help but be annoyed with.

In the second set, Amanda Anisimova celebrated a point before Sabalenka even had the chance to hit the ball. Sabalenka went to the chair umpire enquiring if it constituted a hindrance, but Anisimova only received a verbal warning, much to the surprise of the TV commentators and the Belarusian. “I was just trying to chase the ball. She was already celebrating it. I was like ‘I mean, that’s a bit too early,'” Sabalenka explained in the press conference. “Then she [Anisimova] kind of p—–d me off like saying ‘That’s what she does all the time.'”

However, Anisimova is not sure if she was really in the wrong. Speaking in her post-match presser, the 23-year-old revealed, “No, I wasn’t celebrating. It was just like a long grunt, I guess.” Adding to her explanation, she said, “I don’t really know what was the deal there, to be honest, because I don’t feel like it was that interfering. But yeah, I tried to not do it again, but yeah, it was just a such a high-stakes match, and I think we were both grunting a lot out there.”

Citing the match pressure and the stakes involved, Anisimova concluded her response. “We have a big game, so it’s just that’s the outcome of it, but I wasn’t really sure what the issue was. But I can play it back. Maybe it was a bit interfering, like I don’t really know.” Interestingly, her “long grunt” wasn’t the only thing that her opponent found annoying in the match.

Anisimova went up 5-2 in the deciding set when the ball clipped the top of the net, leaving Sabalenka unable to return it. While is customary for a player to apologize to their opponent when that happens, the American didn’t bother to make the gesture, and Sabalenka was far from okay with it. “I just looked at her and, for sure, she didn’t hear me, I was like ‘You don’t want to say sorry?'”, Sabalenka said later. “She just wanted, I guess, badly to win this match.”

But while Sabalenka was critical of her opponent’s behavior, she made no excuses about her own shortcomings on the court.

Aryna Sabalenka makes tough confession on Wimbledon setback

During the post-match conference, Aryna Sabalenka reflected on what led to her debacle against Amanda Anisimova. “My returns were much worse compared to the matches before,” said the World No.1. The numbers don’t lie either. Compared to her opponent, she could win only 39.7 percent of her return points on Anisimova’s first serve and 40 percent on the second serve. “I gave everything I had at the moment,” she added.

“Losing sucks”, she further told, referring to the previous failures this season. Back in January, she lost the Australian Open final against America’s Madison Keys. Then last month, another American WTA star, Coco Gauff, stunned her in the summit clash at the French Open.

Sabalenka’s head-to-head record against Anisimova now stands at 6-3 in the latter’s favor, and she couldn’t help but admire the American’s performance on Thursday, “I have to say that she was more brave today. And maybe when I was just trying to stay in the point, she was like… playing more aggressive.”

Since 1990, Anisimova is the fourth player to defeat the World No.1 at Wimbledon before making way into a slam final. It will be interesting to see how Sabalenka absorbs yet another setback at majors this season. Do you think she can make a comeback at the US Open and win the title? Let us know in the comments below. And don’t miss a moment—get minute-by-minute coverage of the Championships on EssentiallySports.