Absolute madness in Madrid! Ukraine’s Marta Kostyuk accused the world number one, Aryna Sabalenka, of intentionally pausing the game, which later led to a heated exchange with the umpire. Well, previously, we have seen Sabalenka opening up about facing “hate” in the locker room, but that was on a different issue. Then, in 2023, the World Sports Network measured the social sentiment of tweets mentioning players in a negative light. It also captured sentiments of reactions in their Facebook posts. After analyzing all these, on the WTA side, it was revealed that Sabalenka has received the most number of negative tweets (15%) while it was 5% on Facebook. So, this shows that despite her heroics on the court, the Belarusian star has time and again failed to win the hearts of her peers and some sets of fans due to various reasons. Recently, another controversial moment in her QF match at the Madrid Open landed her in the ‘bad books’ of the fans. What was the incident, though?

Aryna Sabalenka outshone Marta Kostyuk by 7-6(4),7-6(7) to secure her place in the SF of the Madrid Open. However, things took an evil turn when Kostyuk was on the verge of securing victory at 5-4 in the second-set tiebreak. The Belarusian, who was then facing a point deficit, made a controversial decision to pause the play, citing rain as the reason. The umpire was heard saying, “I don’t think it’s that bad yet to stop. We can still play a bit.” After that, Sabalenka returned to the baseline to hit her second serve, but then, yet again, she refused to play, citing distraction due to raindrops. Although the umpire initially raised some objections surrounding the suspension of the match, Sabalenka’s relentless pursuit eventually led to a halt in the play.

After seeing all these, Kostyuk looked visibly frustrated, and she expressed her discontent by stepping up to the chair umpire. The Ukrainian even questioned the fairness of allowing her opponent a new first serve after the interruption. Livid with the decision, Kostyuk questioned, “She was waiting for five minutes to serve! And then she started to serve again—how is this possible? Why is it first serve again?” 

Not only that, Kostyuk further went on to add, “But wait, she stopped by herself—nobody stopped her. It was like two minutes when she served first time and then she stopped. She could have served ten times, and she voluntarily stopped. You told her she has to keep going and she stopped by herself again, by herself. She said ‘I do not serve.’ Nobody stopped her.“

Renowned tennis journalist, Christopher Clarey, shared a tweet highlighting this incident with the caption, “I’m with Marta Kostyuk on this one Player should not be able to unilaterally decide to stop playing after the first serve after receiving instructions from the chair umpire to carry on. Sabalenka will resume later with a first serve at a critical stage of this match. Weak umpiring.“

Later on, when play resumed, Marta Kostyuk won the point to take a 6-4 lead, but she failed to convert her set points as the ‘Tigress’ held her nerve in an exciting conclusion. After securing the victory, Sabalenka said, “That was a battle. Conditions were incredibly tough. It wasn’t about tennis. It was about how you handle your emotions. I’m super proud I was able to handle myself in such a difficult situation.” But the fans weren’t too pleased with her actions during the match. They flooded social media with negative reactions on Aryna Sabalenka…

Aryna Sabalenka facing backlash from the fans for her actions during her QF match against Marta Kostyuk

Who was the real culprit, rain or Aryna Sabalenka? Well, during the delay, Marta Kostyuk was heard saying to her team, “She (Sabalenka) is never winning a sportsman’s award, that’s for sure.” Seeing this controversial moment in their match, a fan wrote, “Embarrassingly weak. One more reason to never support Sabalenka, although there were plenty of reasons already.”

Both these players have met each other three times in their careers so far, and Sabalenka has a lead of 3-0 over Kostyuk. However, there has always been some controversy when these two have crossed paths with each other. Was the Belarusian the real culprit in this incident? Highlighting her intentions to break her opponent’s momentum and turn the outcome of the match in her favor, a fan wrote, “Sabalenka knew what she was doing when she missed the first serve. Shes a 🤡.“

However, the feud between these two players is not new. Amidst the Russia-Ukraine war in 2023, Marta Kostyuk made a bold statement on Aryna Sabalenka, claiming, “She said that I hate her. I never said publicly nor privately nor to anyone that I hate Aryna Sabalenka or any of the players. I just don’t respect her…” After seeing this recent ‘forceful’ stoppage of play, another fan wrote, “Poor gamesmanship on her end.”

Just a few weeks ago, Sabalenka created yet another controversial moment by taking a photograph on the court of a disputed ball mark during her QF match against Elise Mertens at the Stuttgart Open. As a result of that, she even received a warning for unsportsmanlike conduct from the chair umpire Miriam Bley. Highlighting all these incidents, some of the fans claimed, “In some matches, Sabalenka plays the role of the player, umpire, and supervisor.”

What was Sabalenka’s clarification surrounding the stoppage of play, though? In her post-match interview, she said, “Oh my God…! Serving while the rain was falling was impossible. I tried with the first serve, but I realized that I had to stop because the water was getting into my eyes. It was impossible. I knew I was going to double fault, and I didn’t want that to happen, so I decided that the game couldn’t continue. I’m glad I did it.” Despite this justification, fans claim, “Sabalenka is not satisfied with getting. Bye-level opponent in almost every round. She also needs to cheat.“

Previously, during the 2025 AO, her sportsmanship was yet again put in question when distraught Sabalenka gave Madison Keys a lukewarm embrace at the net before smashing her racket and storming off the court. The runner-up is expected to stay on the court for the prize ceremony when players usually give a speech. Justifying that situation, she had then said she was frustrated because she was “so close to achieving something crazy.” But now, after seeing her actions at the Madrid Open, a fan gave a nod to Clarey’s post, saying, “Fully agree with this. A very weak decision from the umpire.” 

Aryna Sabalenka will next take on Elina Svitolina in the SF. She has a 4-1 record over the other Ukrainian. Do you think Svitolina can take revenge for her compatriot by defeating the two-time champion (2021,2023) in this match?