Latest / Bleacher Report / Venus Williams Reacts to Sabalenka's Post-Match Comments After Being Eliminated | Roland-Garros 2026

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Venus Williams Reacts to Sabalenka's Post-Match Comments After Being Eliminated | Roland-Garros 2026 · Bleacher Report

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: The grounds, hero rolling garrows. Everyone was trying to process
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: how quickly it turned from a second set domination from
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: Sabolenka to a surprise win from Schneider afterwards, a very
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: honest arena, Sabolenka at the podium.
• 0:17
  Speaker 2: No thoughts, no emotions, just want to quit tennis right now.
• 0:22
  Speaker 2: But we'll see, We'll see in a few days, hopefully
• 0:25
  Speaker 2: I'll get back on track. I guess mentally, I got
• 0:28
  Speaker 2: into a very deep, deep dark hole over there, and
• 0:32
  Speaker 2: I just couldn't get back mentally on track. This is
• 0:35
  Speaker 2: something that I actually have to, you know, kind of
• 0:37
  Speaker 2: like step back and kind of like try to find
• 0:40
  Speaker 2: a solution because I just am so tired of me
• 0:43
  Speaker 2: losing so much. Is not in the best way, just
• 0:46
  Speaker 2: because I was over emotional. You know those rooms where
• 0:48
  Speaker 2: you just go in and you smash everything. Probably I'll
• 0:52
  Speaker 2: spend a whole little more over there, destroying stuff. Maybe
• 0:56
  Speaker 2: it will help. Maybe not.
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: A lot of honesty, a lot of candor, kind of
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: reminiscent of what we saw from her battle against Coco
• 1:05
  Speaker 1: Golf in the Championship last year, where the wind took over,
• 1:08
  Speaker 1: Coco could handle it. Arena, not so much your reaction
• 1:11
  Speaker 1: to her comments Venus, Oh, I.
• 1:12
  Speaker 3: Was feeling sad. Actually, it was kind of like taking
• 1:17
  Speaker 3: on her emotions. A lot of empathy for her, and
• 1:20
  Speaker 3: she leaves it all on the court. You see everything
• 1:22
  Speaker 3: she feels on the court, and perhaps maybe take a
• 1:25
  Speaker 3: little more time if you need to, before the press conference,
• 1:29
  Speaker 3: because I don't think she wants to quit tennis, like
• 1:31
  Speaker 3: that would be a tragedy for tennis and a tragedy
• 1:33
  Speaker 3: for her. But of course, when you lose, it's just
• 1:36
  Speaker 3: so like the inner struggle is real. So I'd like
• 1:40
  Speaker 3: that she lets us in, lets us be a part
• 1:43
  Speaker 3: of her world in that way. But what happened today,
• 1:46
  Speaker 3: it happens to every player at some point in time,
• 1:48
  Speaker 3: and it hurts. I think the worst part is that
• 1:51
  Speaker 3: you let your own self down. You able to deal
• 1:54
  Speaker 3: with letting yourself down is the hardest thing in the world.
• 1:57
  Speaker 3: If you just get beat, you just got beat, right,
• 1:59
  Speaker 3: somebody wiped you off the you got beat, they played better,
• 2:01
  Speaker 3: You can deal with that. But right now she's dealing
• 2:03
  Speaker 3: with her own disappointment and it's hard to sleep at
• 2:05
  Speaker 3: night with that. But what I'll also say is that
• 2:09
  Speaker 3: any of us would take the year she's had so
• 2:13
  Speaker 3: I think she's just amplifying in this moment. Like this moment,
• 2:16
  Speaker 3: but she's had a great year and I don't think
• 2:19
  Speaker 3: she should have any regrets and this just make her stronger.
• 2:21
  Speaker 1: In her eighty fifth week of being number one in
• 2:24
  Speaker 1: the world. I'm curious for all of you when you
• 2:27
  Speaker 1: have that moment and you have to collect yourself. What
• 2:30
  Speaker 1: was that process like for you?
• 2:32
  Speaker 3: Oh my god, I immediately start ordering like all the
• 2:35
  Speaker 3: foods I don't eat, and I'm so embarrassed at the hotel,
• 2:39
  Speaker 3: Like I just kind of put my arm out the
• 2:41
  Speaker 3: door and like I don't want them to see the
• 2:42
  Speaker 3: faces I have, like these pies and candy, anything you
• 2:46
  Speaker 3: can think of coming in May.
• 2:48
  Speaker 4: What would you like?
• 2:48
  Speaker 1: The entire menu?
• 2:50
  Speaker 3: Yes, all of it McDonald's, honestly.
• 2:53
  Speaker 5: So it's the.
• 2:55
  Speaker 3: Best moment to just let yourself go. So that's how
• 2:59
  Speaker 3: I dealt with it. I think my team would be
• 3:01
  Speaker 3: like afraid of me too, because sometimes I just leave
• 3:04
  Speaker 3: the court, like from the site, racket bags gone, and
• 3:07
  Speaker 3: everybody's like, don't go around her, right, And that seemed
• 3:11
  Speaker 3: like a nice one, but yeah, nobody's nice when they're losing.
• 3:14
  Speaker 1: You know, Cara, what do you think, what do you
• 3:16
  Speaker 1: think her process is going to be.
• 3:18
  Speaker 5: Well, I think she's just got to learn from it.
• 3:19
  Speaker 5: As Venus was saying, we've all been there, We've all
• 3:22
  Speaker 5: gone through We've all had those disappointments where we thought
• 3:25
  Speaker 5: we were going to win and we let it slip away,
• 3:27
  Speaker 5: and then we don't really know how we ended up
• 3:29
  Speaker 5: in this situation and just got to go reset, take
• 3:32
  Speaker 5: a few days. Whether it's smashing rackets, ordering dessert, going
• 3:35
  Speaker 5: back on the practice court, not seeing a court, whatever
• 3:38
  Speaker 5: makes you feel better. I guess that's that's kind of
• 3:41
  Speaker 5: the next step, right.
• 3:41
  Speaker 3: And they have the rage rooms here in Paris.
• 3:44
  Speaker 4: They have everything in Paris.
• 3:45
  Speaker 3: Got everything in Paris.
• 3:46
  Speaker 1: Okay, But you know she lost in the Australian Open
• 3:51
  Speaker 1: finals slowan to rebaking a lot of stress there, came back,
• 3:54
  Speaker 1: won the Sunshine Double Indian wells Miami. She can bounce back.
• 3:58
  Speaker 1: What kind of a revamped arena what we see after
• 4:01
  Speaker 1: she goes and collects herself.
• 4:02
  Speaker 3: So I liked what she has.
• 4:04
  Speaker 6: She has bounced back ability. So I think for her,
• 4:07
  Speaker 6: she is emotional, but her emotions are also what fuel
• 4:10
  Speaker 6: her to win and to come back, So yes, it's
• 4:12
  Speaker 6: emotional now but in a week she's probably going to
• 4:15
  Speaker 6: be fine. She's going to go on a little vacation,
• 4:17
  Speaker 6: she's gonna go hang out with their fiance, and she's
• 4:19
  Speaker 6: going to be fine. Her team's going to give her
• 4:21
  Speaker 6: that break of Okay, it happened again, No big deal,
• 4:24
  Speaker 6: we'll work on it, we'll fix it. But you have
• 4:26
  Speaker 6: to look at all the things in her game that
• 4:27
  Speaker 6: she's actually improved, like she is getting better. We saw
• 4:29
  Speaker 6: so many drop shots, we saw are coming to them.
• 4:31
  Speaker 6: That's all serving involving all of the things that she's
• 4:33
  Speaker 6: actually trying to improve. She's working on, and yes she's emotional,
• 4:37
  Speaker 6: but the emotions are what actually make her the number
• 4:40
  Speaker 6: one player in the world.
• 4:41
  Speaker 1: So many different crazy changes these last two weeks, Sabalalinka
• 4:45
  Speaker 1: was sort of the one that we went well. She's
• 4:47
  Speaker 1: still making her run. Add it to the list of
• 4:49
  Speaker 1: expecting the unexpected. We will have two new first time
• 4:52
  Speaker 1: major champions. Haven't had that since Medvedev and ron A
• 4:56
  Speaker 1: Kanu in twenty twenty one at the US Open zero
• 4:59
  Speaker 1: Major champ Ben's headed to the semifinals, both top seeds
• 5:02
  Speaker 1: following that's official today. I haven't seen that in sixteen
• 5:05
  Speaker 1: years and zero, top seven women's seeds when we came
• 5:09
  Speaker 1: in with those top four of IgA, Rebakina, Coco, Sablenka,
• 5:14
  Speaker 1: just models of consistency. And is there your girl, Deanna
• 5:18
  Speaker 1: Schneider getting it done? Low key, your favorite player on tour.
• 5:22
  Speaker 1: No offense to anyone here.
• 5:23
  Speaker 7: Well, yeah, she's my favorite player. I love how she plays.
• 5:26
  Speaker 7: I love the spunk that she plays with and just
• 5:28
  Speaker 7: she goes out there and she fights, and I mean, look,
• 5:30
  Speaker 7: you take out Madison Keys six on the third, Sablinka
• 5:33
  Speaker 7: six on third, arguably two of the biggest hitters on
• 5:35
  Speaker 7: the WTA tour. She just beat them with consistency and
• 5:39
  Speaker 7: patience and a lot of poise out there, and she
• 5:42
  Speaker 7: just let those players kind of unravel late in these matches.
• 5:45
  Speaker 7: She did it again today against seb Linka.
• 5:47
  Speaker 4: I think too with Schneider when you look at her
• 5:49
  Speaker 4: draw right, you mentioned she won the third set today
• 5:51
  Speaker 4: six so against Madison Keys, who was six. So if
• 5:54
  Speaker 4: you go back to her other matches her first round
• 5:57
  Speaker 4: six four six', one the second round seven six six,
• 5:59
  Speaker 4: one third round seven five sixty, one her in game
• 6:02
  Speaker 4: adjustments have been really. Impressive. Right you, see like she's
• 6:05
  Speaker 4: battling that first set and then boom figuring out her
• 6:08
  Speaker 4: opponent and then just dominating that second so or in
• 6:10
  Speaker 4: the last two, matches it was the third, set AND
• 6:12
  Speaker 4: i have.
• 6:12
  Speaker 1: To imagine the weather will be. Similar so she was
• 6:14
  Speaker 1: able to handle the wins so. Well if that's what
• 6:17
  Speaker 1: she gets in the semis or even so a, final
• 6:19
  Speaker 1: pretty good, Preparation.
• 6:21
  Speaker 5: Yeah for. SURE i mean the best players know how
• 6:23
  Speaker 5: to adapt to. Conditions, obviously wind is an equalizer more
• 6:27
  Speaker 5: so than anything. Else it's not easy to get in. Position,
• 6:30
  Speaker 5: Today seblenka was really running away from, it and then
• 6:33
  Speaker 5: all of a sudden she stopped moving her. Feet the
• 6:35
  Speaker 5: good thing about being someone who doesn't only use their
• 6:38
  Speaker 5: power but has to, feel has to, touch Like schneider,
• 6:41
  Speaker 5: does she can, adapt, Right that's how she wins. Matches she.
• 6:45
  Speaker 5: Adapts she can put in the slice to the drop.
• 6:47
  Speaker 5: Shots she comes to the, net she uses her lefty
• 6:50
  Speaker 5: to put the ball high into someone's back. End it's
• 6:54
  Speaker 5: that's a thing for. Her wind is not really an.
• 6:57
  Speaker 3: Issue, yeah when you're used to hitting through the, court
• 7:00
  Speaker 3: when the wind starts and though you can't control the,
• 7:02
  Speaker 3: ball it's a. Nightmare but when you have that variety
• 7:05
  Speaker 3: and you're used to having to push people around through
• 7:09
  Speaker 3: the spins and the drops and the. Angles it's a
• 7:11
  Speaker 3: lot easier to. ADJUST i, mean, Personally i'd pick the
• 7:14
  Speaker 3: heat over the. Wind that's every player would choose something.
• 7:17
  Speaker 3: DIFFERENT i think maybe she would choose the wind because
• 7:19
  Speaker 3: it really worked for her.
• 7:20
  Speaker 1: Today just to show how unexpected is tomorrow in this women's,
• 7:24
  Speaker 1: semifinal it's going to be two lefties battling it. Out
• 7:28
  Speaker 1: you rarely see, one let alone two that is going
• 7:31
  Speaker 1: to be coming up. Tomorrow been one of the more
• 7:33
  Speaker 1: Wild Roland garros tournaments that we have had in, many many.
• 7:37
  Speaker 1: Years none of the favorites made, it new favorites making
• 7:41
  Speaker 1: their way