Aryna Sabalenka halts awkward US Open speech and apologises in message to boyfriend

Aryna Sabalenka successfully defended her US Open title and then was forced to cut off the emcee during an awkward trophy presentation as she attempted to thank her team for their support. The world No.1 defeated Amanda Ansimova 6-3 7-6(3) to lift her first Major of the year and her fourth overall.

Sabalenka addressed the crowd during her victory speech, but Mary Carillo, who was conducting interviews with the champion and runner-up, attempted to move on before the top seed had finished her speech. Sabalenka stopped Carillo in her tracks and said: "Wait. I'm not done!"

The Belarusian is known for jokingly giving her team a hard time in her speeches. But she had not yet acknowledged them when Carillo asked for Sabalenka to be presented with the trophy for the second year running.

The No.1 seed paid tribute to Anisimova, who lost a second consecutive Grand Slam final, and thanked the New York crowd when the interviewer tried to move things along. Carillo started to introduce the JP Morgan representative who would be handing Sabalenka her £3.7m ($5m) winners' cheque.

But Sabalenka quickly reacted and halted proceedings to continue her speech. "Wait, wait, wait, I need to say thank you to my team. I'm not done. What do you mean?" she asked. "Sorry. I thought it would be rude because I'm giving hard times to my team and to leave them without appreciation in my speech, it would be mean."

Before she finally addressed her support camp, Sabalenka also paid tribute to tournament director Stacey Allaster, who is set to retire from her role. "I'm really sad that you're leaving so maybe you can consider, maybe you want to stay?" the two-time US Open winner joked.

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"Last but not least, I want to say thank you to my team, to my family, to everyone who came here, who flew from Miami, from LA, to be there in my box, to support me, to cheer me on.

"Hopefully I'm going to reach many more finals, you guys are not allowed to skip any of those, so I don't care where you guys are going to be, but you're going to be flying to my finals!"

It had been a tough Grand Slam season for Sabalenka, who suffered heartbreaking defeats in the Australian Open and Roland Garros finals, and was then beaten by Anisimova in the Wimbledon semis.

After bouncing back to reclaim her crowd in Flushing Meadows, she apologised to her coaching camp. Smiling, she continued: "Of course, thank you to my team. I mean, it's been tough this year and, you know, in those finals I was really terrible towards you. But come on, it's worth it, right?

"So, guys, thank you so much. I love you, you're my family. And thank you to my boyfriend who is always there for me, cheering me on. Without your support, I wouldn't be able to make it.

"And last thing, I know people at home are watching. I'm sorry, I'm really long today, I know it can get annoying! But last but not least, also, I know that kids back home are watching me. This morning, I received a video from the tennis school where I started, from the kids.

"They were cheering me on, they were really wishing me all the best wishes. I was a little bit crying this morning and that was the moment when I realised I cannot let them down, I have to give them some positive vibes, so thank you so much for the support."

After Sabalenka finished her speech, Carillo, who also cut Anisimova off before the runner-up asked to continue speaking, then joked: "She said she was speechless!"