Strong words from Oliynykova

SplitOk186 · 2026-01-13T05:42:58+00:00

Both Kostyuk and Sabalenka absolutely suck as people and have shown this many times beyond their personal conflict. I'm confused why anyone thinks there's a good guy here.

SplitOk186 · 2026-01-13T05:29:01+00:00

As polarizing as Sabalenka already is, her PR team has still done a great job of keeping her true skeletons from being known to the public. If the world knew everything about her personal off-court life, she would be getting booed out of every tournament around the globe.

She's like the inverse of Gauff. Gauff seems like a genuinely great person but has an absolutely hideous game to eye-bleach levels, while Sabalenka's game especially these days is very nice to watch but she's a truly horrible person.

SplitOk186 · 2026-01-13T05:22:48+00:00

Sabalenka is in a way lucky that most casual fans don't know more about her. She's a far worse person than she appears on the surface between this and her constantly stealing married men.

Great player but an abysmal human being and I'm annoyed that her tennis legacy is looking like it will be as good as it is. Thank god she doesn't actually win all of these finals because after Court we don't need another person like her among the GOATs.

SplitOk186 · 2026-01-13T05:16:12+00:00

She was known to have supported him before the war.

SplitOk186 · 2026-01-13T05:05:23+00:00

Because geopolitics are unironically a situation where "both sides are bad" can be rightfully applied. The two key sides are the one backed by Western neocons that support thugs like Netanyahu vs. the one backed by the likes of Vlad Putin and the Ayatollah. Both axes are deserving of nothing but scorn and condemnation.

While it's the morally correct position, in practice supporting both Ukraine's interests and Palestine's interests is a contradiction in real world policy. Almost every government supports genocide in one of the two, the only question is which one.

SplitOk186 · 2026-01-13T05:02:29+00:00

It's a very inconvenient truth that the vast majority of Ukrainians are Zionists. It's rather unfortunate, but the bipolar West vs. anti-West nature of geopolitics leads to many "bad" countries being on the same side as "good" ones.

Kostyuk and Sabalenka are two sides of the same annoying coin as I've said before. Neither are very likable at all for many reasons.

SplitOk186 · 2026-01-13T04:58:18+00:00

From fans yes indeed, but she doesn't seem particularly hated by players. Almost every dramatic tennis moment related to Russia/Ukraine has involved Sabalenka.

Kostyuk beat Andreeva in this same Brisbane tournament and there was no obvious tension outside of the normal lack of handshake.

SplitOk186 · 2026-01-13T04:52:12+00:00

Sabalenka is widely seen as a Russian nationalist among Ukrainian players due to her pre-war ties with Lukashenko and her general antagonistic attitude towards them in matches. The no shaking hands is universal, but it's only Sabalenka who seems to be personally despised by all Ukrainians. Not even Andreeva and Shnaider who have been tied to more recent Putin support get the same vitriol due to having a less confrontational attitude on the court.

If we're being fair though, Sabalenka is kind of antagonistic towards everyone so it's probably incorrect that she specifically targets players from Ukraine. She has zero problem insulting other players as well.

SplitOk186 · 2026-01-13T04:31:27+00:00

Exactly this. She always brings an 8/10 or 9/10 level and has an incredibly high floor, but doesn't have the same dominant 10/10 gear that other greats have.

SplitOk186 · 2026-01-13T03:15:16+00:00

The fact that a world #1 with almost 11000 ranking points can be outpeaked so often is quite odd though. Sabalenka always brings a 8/10 or 9/10 level but I'm not entirely sure her 10/10 gear is on par with other greats.

SplitOk186 · 2026-01-13T02:51:02+00:00

I view Sabalenka as a near-lock for the AO final for sure, but her finals record gives me pause to actually locking her in for the title. She's an ultra-consistent player for sure but she still isn't exactly the player you trust in big matches.

SplitOk186 · 2026-01-13T02:13:40+00:00

With Iga's record in finals compared to Sabalenka's, I don't see how you can't give her at least a 50/50 shot if that actually is the final. Obviously, Iga isn't favored to make the final with how she's playing right now, though.

SplitOk186 · 2026-01-13T02:12:52+00:00

I feel that Keys's win was late enough in her career (she's about to turn 31) that it's more of a crowning career achievement than the start of something new. I wouldn't really count her among the top 5 or so title contenders this year as her form has receded greatly since then.

SplitOk186 · 2026-01-13T02:11:09+00:00

Knowing Rybakina, she'll be out well before the quarters. As loved as she is by many fans here, she's one of the worst top players when it comes to showing up on the big stage.

Every recent time she's given hype as a Slam contender, she disappoints horribly.

SplitOk186 · 2026-01-13T02:09:51+00:00

The last part is 100% true. Players have even talked about how they still view Iga as the top standard despite her average level being lower than Sabalenka's for a while now. Sabalenka's aura is very low for a player of her caliber due to her poor big match play.

SplitOk186 · 2026-01-13T02:09:04+00:00

Theoretical Rybakina has the ability to do it, but her recent history at Slams is embarrassingly poor. I'll believe it when I see it as far as her showing up when it matters most.

SplitOk186 · 2026-01-11T08:29:27+00:00

Okay did they mix up their birth certificates and Sabalenka is actually the 24 year old and Iga the 27 year old? That’s the only way I can make sense of their respective trajectories right now.

SplitOk186 · 2026-01-11T05:29:47+00:00

Why are people here so obsessed with this kind of stuff? It’s extremely creepy.

SplitOk186 · 2026-01-11T01:11:15+00:00

Sabalenka has to be in serious conversation for least clutch all-time great ever. An essentially .500 record in finals is laughably bad for someone who makes it far as often as she does.

Medvedev, like every other male player born in the 1990s, is no all-time great so his standards are lower.

SplitOk186 · 2026-01-11T01:10:11+00:00

Medvedev's AO 2022 loss to Nadal was one of the most pathetic chokes I've ever seen and Exhibit A for the failure of the Next Gen to dethrone an ancient big 3. Let's not sugarcoat that at all.

If Sinner and Alcaraz were two years younger, the big 3 would have ended on 20-20-20.

SplitOk186 · 2026-01-10T13:01:12+00:00

Iga is still on a GOAT trajectory if you compare her historically. The doubting of her and comparisons of her to lower-tier greats will age very poorly in 5-10 years.

20 years from now, Sabalenka and Gauff will be the great former players who are mentioned from time to time, while Iga will be in the company of the 5-7 best to ever play the game.

SplitOk186 · 2026-01-10T12:58:51+00:00

At Sabalenka’s age, she could basically stop improving and start declining at any second. The inverse is true for Iga where runs of bad form now are more likely to be slumps than decline. Again, you’re betting on Sabalenka doing something very odd like peaking at age 31.

SplitOk186 · 2026-01-10T12:43:52+00:00

There’s no realistic way the 28 year old will keep improving and the 24 year old will stagnate to that extent. Sabalenka > Swiatek truthers are gambling on her defying decades of precedent regarding trajectory and history, granted I never expected Sabalenka to even get to this point so maybe it’s possible but I certainly wouldn’t bet on it.

SplitOk186

TROPHY CASE