Sabalenka apologizes for water bottle incident

Aryna Sabalenka was asked about an incident that took place a few weeks ago, and stepped up to the plate with a mature response. In Beijing, the 20-year-old was filmed waving her empty water bottle towards the direction of a ball boy, before losing patience and just dropping it.

The moment came hot on the heels of Fernando Verdasco receiving a ton of flack for gesturing at a ball boyat the Shenzhen Open.

To her credit, Sabalenka issued an apology.

"Well, I'm so sorry because it was—well, it was emotional for me. I was [losing] my mind. After that, I saw it on Twitter, and I was just, like, oh, my God, what I did. I didn't even remember this," she said in Zhuhai. "Then I was just like, wow, I'm sorry, this guy. It was bad of me. Now I will never do it again. I will try to be nice to the ball boys, even if they are just, like, so slow."

She had been in the midst of a three-set win over Caroline Garcia on her way to the China Open quarterfinals. Sabalenka has had a breakthrough season, particularly catching fire in the second half. She had won her biggest career title in Wuhan just before Beijing.

In Zhuhai, she opened with a straight-set win over Ashleigh Barty and plays Garcia next.