ARYNA SABALENKA has admitted that Amanda Anisimova “p***ed her off” during their Wimbledon semi-final.
The world No1 was beaten 6-4 4-6 6-4 by the American on Centre Court.
Anisimova, 23, got under Sabalenka’s skin on a couple of occasions during the contest.
With the Belarusian serving at 4-6 2-3 15-0, Anisimova fired a backhand winner past her.
Before the ball had reached Sabalenka, the No13 seed loudly appeared to celebrate.
Surprisingly, umpire Damien Dumusois opted against calling Anisimova for a hindrance, much to Sabalenka’s frustration.
And when Dumusois gave Anisimova a soft warning, she further stoked the fire by claiming that Sabalenka does similar “all the time”.
At 2-3 in the deciding set, Anisimova again wound Sabalenka up, this time by failing to apologise following a lucky nick off the net cord.
After her agonising defeat, the beaten star was determined not to come across as bitter, following her sour grapes after losing to Coco Gauff in the recent Roland Garros final.
She began her press conference by smiling and saying: “Are you guys waiting for something? You’re not going to see (a repeat of the) Roland Garros press conference, so anyone who was waiting for that, you can leave right now.”
Later on in her presser, however, Sabalenka did admit that Anisimova had irritated her during the match.
The three-time Grand Slam champion said of the potential hindrance: “I was just trying to chase the ball. She was already celebrating it. I was, like, that’s a bit too early. Then she kind of p***ed me off saying that, oh, “that’s what she does all the time”.
“I was grateful that she actually said that because I was, like, it’s actually help me to keep fighting.
“I’m like, okay, now I’m going to show you the tennis. So I came back because I got really angry in that moment.
“So probably in the third set I should have remembered (my frustration), and you know, probably will help. It is what it is.”
Asked about the incident, Anisimova denied celebrating.
Anisimova said: “No, I wasn’t celebrating. It was just a long grunt, I guess.
“I don’t really know what was the deal there, to be honest, because I didn’t feel like it was that interfering.
“But yeah, I tried to not do it again. It was just such a high-stakes match. I think we were both grunting a lot out there. We have a big game, so that’s the outcome of it.
“But I wasn’t really sure what the issue was, but I can play it back. Maybe I was a bit interfering. I don’t really know.”
Anisimova will meet five-time Grand Slam champion Iga Swiatek in Saturday’s final.
The Pole demolished Belinda Bencic 6-2 6-0 in the day’s second semi-final.
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