Aryna Sabalenka admitted that she was very frustrated with her performance in the Indian Wells final but didn't agree that easily reaching the title match led to her failing to deliver in the key moments against Mirra Andreeva.
ADVERTISEMENT
On Sunday, the top seed made a good start in the desert but then collapsed in the remainder of the final and the 17-year-old Russian took full advantage to come back and win 2-6 6-4 6-3.
En route to the final, the Belarusian registered five straight-set wins - during which she would mostly drop only a couple of games - including a stunning 6-0 6-1 victory over reigning Australian Open champion Madison Keys in the semifinal.
During the second and third sets of the Indian Wells final - when Andreeva evidently raised her game - Sabalenka failed to step up and respond. So after the final, a reporter was curious if not being properly tested may have been negatively impacted her on Sunday.
Sabalenka: No, that wasn't the case... It was just me making mistakes
"No, I understand what you mean. Probably if I were 15 years old, not experienced, probably that would be the case," the 26-year-old said.
ADVERTISEMENT
"I have been here for so many years, and I think it wasn't about the way I was playing before the finals and I was just playing great tennis mentally, physically, like, everything was just perfect. And today I just made a couple of mistakes, kind of got a little bit too emotional about myself. I think that was the main mistake. I should have just, like, keep pushing without overthinking too much."
Sabalenka, who also finished runner-up to Elena Rybakina in the 2023 Indian Wells final, also said in her presser that at moments it was "me against me."
For the Belarusian, it was her second consecutive final defeat after also falling short to Keys in the Australian Open final.
