Jim Courier claims Aryna Sabalenka said something after her second round win at Wimbledon that simply isn’t true

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Aryna Sabalenka has continued her Wimbledon campaign after beating Marie Bouzkova in straight sets.

Sabalenka won her first ever Grand Slam match at Wimbledon in 2017, and eight years later is the top seed.

In her first appearance at Wimbledon since 2023, Sabalenka has beaten Carson Branstine and Bouzkova to reach the third round for the third time in her career.

While Sabalenka remains in the women’s singles draw, many of her rivals including Coco Gauff have already exited Wimbledon.

Jim Courier claims Aryna Sabalenka said something untrue after her latest Wimbledon victory

Despite this seemingly clearing the way for Sabalenka, she claimed she was sad that her rivals had already been knocked out of Wimbledon this year when speaking in her on-court interview.

When discussing how the draw opening up would impact the world number one, Jim Courier claimed that he did not believe Sabalenka was actually sad about her rivals being knocked out this year.

“Depends on how she takes it right?” Courier said on Tennis Channel Live. “If she’s smart she just stays in her bubble and she just follows all the old tropes and cliches that do work. ‘What’s my next opponent? What am I doing? How do I focus on my next shot?’.

“Keep it simple, don’t be overwhelmed by the things that are out of your control. I do love the way she lied right to everyone there. ‘Oh I’m so sad everybody lost’.”

Presenter Prakash Amritraj responded: “She was capping so hard there. ‘I don’t mind (laughs)’.”

Courier continued, “You don’t want to see the best players on the other side of the net if you can help it. ‘We want to beat the best’, no we want to win. No, my favourite opponent was always that I was going to beat, that’s it. Not the person that was going to challenge me.”

What does Aryna Sabalenka’s draw look like now?

With four of the top five seeds now out of the women’s singles draw, Sabalenka is the only one who remains.

This has opened up the draw significantly, with former world number one Lindsay Davenport discussing Sabalenka’s potential quarter-final with Australian Open champion Madison Keys.

“You know you look at the draw, and if you are seeded five through eight you have to get one through four in the quarters,” said Davenport. “If you’re Madison Keys you’re like ‘Really, this is the tournament I get Sabalenka’.

“She’s the only top four seed left, they’re slated to meet in the quarter-finals. We’ll see if both players get there, but to lose two, to lose three, to lose four, to lose five and you’re Maddie and you’re in there with a fighting chance, she’s kind of stuck with the best player right now who’s left in the draw.”

Before she can even think about playing Keys, Sabalenka will look to overcome Emma Raducanu in her third round match.

Sabalenka won their only previous meeting at Indian Wells in 2024, as Raducanu looks to get revenge at her home major.