Sabalenka on her painful defeats: "You need to have a bad memory to be a successful tennis player"

Sabalenka suffered her fourth consecutive defeat in a Stuttgart final, falling painfully to Ostapenko (6-4, 6-1). Currently in Madrid for the WTA 1000 clay-court tournament, the Belarusian shared her thoughts on how she handles tough losses:

"Throughout my career, I’ve lost several finals that were hard to digest. If I’ve learned anything from it, it’s that you need to have a bad memory to be a successful tennis player.

My only plan now is to forget what happened here and work harder to do better in Madrid," the player said in comments reported by Tennis World Italia.

In 2025, the world number one has suffered three final defeats. The first at the Australian Open against Keys (6-3, 2-6, 7-5), the second at Indian Wells against Andreeva (2-6, 6-4, 6-3), and finally the most recent one in Stuttgart.