"Aryna Sabalenka was b**ching up a storm" - Former WTA pro gives her verdict on Belarusian's fiery exchange with her coach at WTA Finals

Aryan Sabalenka's coach, Anton Dubrov, walked out of the players' box following a fiery exchange with the Belarusian during her match against Jessica Pegula at the WTA Finals in Riyadh.When Pegula had a 2-1 lead in the third set, Sabalenka, frustrated, lashed out at the players’ box where Dubrov was sitting. After Dubrov left the match, Sabalenka channeled all her energy into the match and eventually won it 6-4, 2-6, 6-3.Former WTA pro Rennae Stubbs shed light on the intense emotions that unfolded between Sabalenka and her coaching team.“Sabalenka decided to give her player’s box a bit of a spray today at one-all in the third, two to one in the third, down on serve to go down 2–1 -- gave it a bit of a spray to the player’s box, and the player’s box said, ‘See you later.’ So Anton Dubrov was like, ‘Okay, you’re going to talk to me like that? Out of here,’” Stubbs said on her podcast (16:57).Stubbs revealed that it's rare for a player and coach to come to this point of leaving each other midway. The former coach and player said that Sabalenka, upon realizing that her coach was leaving her mid-match, turned the match around with her sharp focus.“When you know you’ve gone a little too far, it sort of makes you go, ‘Oh, oh shit, I better knuckle down here and try and win this match and stop being a little whiny b-i-*-c-h.’ Because she was b**ching up a storm, and I think it gets to you,” Stubbs said.According to Stubbs, this moment motivated Sabalenka to give her best and come out as the winner. Stubbs added:“The point was like, okay, well, I’ve got no one to bitch at anymore because my coach has literally left the building. She said he pissed her off -- I don’t know what he said or did that pissed her off, but she was obviously upset. And then when he left, she was probably like, ‘Oh shit, maybe I went too far.’ And it certainly refocused her.”Aryna Sabalenka admits she "went too far"After the match, Aryna Sabalenka apologized for the way she talked to her coach. She was full of frustration but admitted that she "went too far."“Maybe I went a little bit too much on Anton. … But yeah, I went a bit too far. I was so frustrated inside of me and I was just trying to let it go,” she said.Sabalenka also said that it was right for her coach, Anton Dubrov, to walk away from the match. She added that the incident motivated her to give her best.“Honestly, I think it was the right move from him to probably just let me be on my own … he really upset me and I was really stressed and angry on him, and that really helped me to pull out such tennis,” Sabalenka added.With the latest win, Sabalenka has almost assured herself a spot in the semifinal, with her only encounter remaining against Coco Gauff in the WTA Finals.