Aryna Sabalenka opens up on her on-court action that sparked Marta Kostyuk's outburst in Madrid Open quarter-finals

Tennis star Aryna Sabalenka breaks silence on stopping her quarter-final clash against Marta Kostyuk in the ongoing Mutua Madrid Open 2025. The star player has stormed into the semi-finals after registering a blistering win over the Ukrainian star with a scoreline of 7-6 (4), 7-6 (7).

During the game, Sabalenka was seen halting the play despite leading the game by 5-4 in the second set of the play. The Belarusian was seen talking to the chair umpire and urged them to stop a game due to rain after she missed her first serve. However, the umpire confronted her and said that the rain hadn't started and requested her to get back on the court to resume her game.

Thereafter, Sabalenka repeatedly requested the umpire to stop the play while stating that rain was falling in her eyes and she was having trouble. Sabalenka refused to play the game, which led the umpire to stop for a brief time. Following this, the Ukrainian star seems furious over the umpire's decision to allow the world number one to be on the first serve when the game resumed.

Watch the incident here:

Aryna Sabalenka wants to stop play because of the rain, serving at 4-5 in the tiebreak in Madrid.

She missed her first serve, then asks the umpire about the rain.

Umpire: “I don’t think it’s that bad yet to stop. We can still play a bit.”

Aryna walks back to hit a second… pic.twitter.com/ZaOjaq0VgQ

— The Tennis Letter (@TheTennisLetter) April 30, 2025

Aryna Sabalenka speaks out about her controversial act in the Madrid Open quarter-finals!

The world number one has recently clarified the incident of stopping the play in her post-match interview. She revealed that it was impossible for her to play with the rain as water was entering her eyes. The Belarusian revealed that she might go for the double fault, which she doesn't want to. The star player was thankful for stopping the game.

Notably, the social media fans were seen lashing at her after she halted the game even when the downpours hadn't started. However, the 26-year-old tennis star confronted the whole situation ahead of her semi-final clash against Elina Svitolina.

"Oh my God...! Serving while the rain was falling was impossible. I tried with the first serve, but I realised that I had to stop because the water was getting into my eyes. It was impossible. I knew I was going to double fault, and I didn't want that to happen, so I decided that the game couldn't continue. I'm glad I did it," Aryna Sabalenka said.

Also WATCH: Marta Kostyuk furious at umpire after Aryna Sabalenka halts play in rain-hit Madrid Open quarter-finals