Aryna Sabalenka vows to get ‘completely drunk’ after Naomi Osaka knocks the World No 1 OUT of Wimbledon – as the Japanese star admits she wants to ‘focus on her tennis’ not her fashion!

Aryna Sabalenka has revealed her next step after being knocked out of Wimbledon by Naomi Osaka is to “get completely drunk” after suffering her first straight defeat at a Grand Slam since 2020.

The world No 1 quickly came under pressure after losing her round of 16 tie against Osaka and initially misstepped when a reporter told her ‘thanks’ for her efforts.

‘Did you say congratulations?’ Sabalenka said cautiously before being corrected. ‘Oh God, I’m sorry.’

“I don’t feel any emotion,” he continued with a smile. ‘Know that I can handle myself much better than last year.

‘Honestly guys, if you’re expecting something really fun, it’s not going to happen. There will probably be short answers.

‘I’ve ruined everything this year. “I’ll try to do better next year,” he said, later adding that his plan was to “get completely drunk, forget about tennis and try to get into better shape.”

Osaka played the match of her career on grass court and buried the world No. 1 in straight sets

Before their fourth-round match on Sunday, Sabalenka had beaten Osaka three times this year. But as shadows loomed on Wimbledon’s biggest stage, the Japanese four-time Grand Slam champion pulled one back and declared himself a major contender for the title by defeating his opponent 6-2, 7-6(2).

It wasn’t always this way. Osaka earned her first win at the US Open en route to her first Grand Slam title in 2018. Sabalenka admitted that this was a ‘turning point’ in her career. After this defeat, Sabalenka had to watch her winner win three more majors and wait until 2023 for Osaka to begin maternity leave before the birth of her daughter Shai for her.

Years later, Osaka and Center Court also have a sticky history. He played the surface three times, lost them all, and admitted on Friday that it was the ‘most frightening Center Court’ in his mind.

If Osaka had been there when she stepped onto the field in her now-ubiquitous kimono-inspired walking outfit, the nerves would have gone unnoticed. After the dust settled, he shared that he saw the competition as a ‘training match’.

‘I was telling myself: ‘There’s a really big crowd for this practice match, but we’ll get through this,” he said. If that’s the app, one wonders, what does the real thing look like?

Sabalenka whistled her way to love in the opening service game but what followed was a breakup as Osaka showed the strongest grass court form of her career. He attributes his emergence to the surface to the help of the ‘big Polish man’ in the box, coach Tomasz Wiktorowski, but this supreme Grand Slam level has been simmering inside the player for some time, regardless of the surface.

Osaka refused to give up against Sabalenka’s strong serve; Her return returns from both the backhand and forehand wings rebounded over the net to put pressure on Sabalenka at the baseline. Moments after her first shot on Center Court this week, Osaka made her first break and completed a stunning backhand with a decisive accurate winner.

Desperate to regain momentum, Sabalenka used Osaka’s weaker second serve to score flashy winners. But as he faced more force from his opponent, which was not a common occurrence, his efforts became more ferocious and more effective. It took Osaka just 32 minutes to win the first set; For the world No. 1, she needed just four minutes more than her last rival, Daria Kasatkina, 64 places above her.

Between sets, Sabalenka sought shelter outside the court, but when she returned, she could not find any decline in her opponent. There were more fights as the Belarusian grew louder and more expressive, and a successful kneel-down in a tricky fifth game enabled him to avoid a premature break of serve once again. But Osaka’s quality kept her own games as short as Sabalenka’s drag; The No. 1 seed didn’t have to defend, instead dictating.

Chasing the Belarusian into the tiebreak, Osaka powered up Sabalenka, forcing her opponent into a fierce backhand for the early break, and made a second unforced error on her forehand to take it to four points. An ace from Sabalenka briefly halted the decay, but as Sabalenka sent her second-last ball home, she watched as Osaka set ablaze two of her most dazzling Grand Slam records.

Osaka admitted after the match that she was now more willing to focus on tennis rather than flashy walking outfits.

Before Sunday, Sabalenka had won 21 consecutive Grand Slam tiebreakers, surpassing Novak Djokovic’s record of 19 at this year’s Australian Open. He had not been beaten in straight sets at a major in almost six years, since the 2020 US Open. No wonder the last ball he threw into the air in frustration got stuck in the roof of Center Court.

‘That’s a good statistic, isn’t it?’ As her burned record was repeated to her after the match, Sabalenka said sadly: ‘It’s okay. I will come back stronger. ‘We’ll start building everything from scratch for the next one.’

Osaka will continue her woes against No. 10 seed Carolina Muchova, who knocked out 2024 champion Barbora Krejcikova 7-5, 5-7, 6-3 on Tuesday.

However, he admitted that he would do so with less emphasis on his own style than in previous tours.

‘I definitely wanted to change my outfit today, but really I wanted to focus on the match. So I was very docile,’ Osaka said.

‘But there are definitely a few things I can add. Ironically I want to focus on my tennis now so I might dial it back a bit.’