Aryna Sabalenka is undoubtedly one of the most beloved players in tennis right now, but she may have gotten herself in trouble this Tuesday.

Following a statement win over Qinwen Zheng during the French Open quarterfinals, Sabalenka was asked if she has ever faced an opponent who was more powerful than her.

“I don’t think I’ve ever played someone who is more powerful than me. And honestly, I don’t care if the player is gonna go out there and try to outhit me or if they’re gonna try to change the rhythm and make me move and run,” Sabalenka said. “Over the years, I evolved my game a lot. I think I’m ready to play against powerful players and whoever is gonna make me run and work for the point. Right now at this point in my career, I don’t really care. But when it comes to the power, I like it. Because then it’s like ‘Ok, you wanna see the power? Let me show you something.’ I always take it as a challenge and like, ok, let’s see who’s better today.”

After Sabalenka made that remark about not being overpowered by an opponent, she was asked if that applies to her match against Serena Williams at the 2021 Australian Open.

Williams defeated Sabalenka in a three-set match, 6-4, 2-6, 6-4.

“I think that she wasn’t really more powerful than me in that match,” Sabalenka replied. “But physically, she was better than me and she put more balls back on my side than I did. I didn’t really feel like she overpowered me in that game.”

ROME, ITALY – MAY 18: Aryna Sabalenka gestures after the Women’s Singles final match between Iga Swiatek and Aryna Sabalenka on Day Thirteen of Internazionali BNL D’Italia 2024 at Foro Italico on May 18, 2024 in Rome, Italy. (Photo by Silvia Lore/Getty Images)

Silvia Lore/Getty Images

It didn’t take long for tennis fans to respond to these comments from Sabalenka. Most of them are accusing her of lying about her match against Williams.

“How does she consider herself more powerful if she has never averaged the first serve speeds that the Williams have? What’s not clicking,” one fan commented.

“Sabalenka is your typical WTA baseline power player. Not even the top 5 of all time power hitters. Davenport, Serena, Pierce, Venus, Kvitova – they all a different league in their peaks. Sabalenka’s shrieking makes it look more powerful is all,” a second fan argued.

“Girl, you don’t even believe that,” a third fan replied.

“Liar liar,” another fan wrote on X.

There aren’t many tennis players who possessed Serena’s raw power. That’s one of many reasons why she won 23 Grand Slam titles.

Sabalenka, 27, has a chance this week to capture her fourth career Grand Slam title and her first at Roland-Garros.