While Coco Gauff illuminated championship grace, it was a bad look by Aryna Sabalenka. More bluntly, Sabalenka displayed a lack of class and dishonored her sport after losing the French Open championship to Gauff on Saturday on the clay court at Roland-Garros.
The 21-year-old Gauff, who was born in Atlanta and moved with her parents (Candi and Corey Gauff) back to their hometown of Delray Beach, Florida when she was seven, won her second career Grand Slam singles title in defeating Sabalenka 6-7 (5-7), 6-2, 6-4. Gauff became the first American woman to win the French Open since Serena Williams in 2015. Gauff’s first Grand Slam championship was at the 2023 US Open, also coming against Sabalenka.
“I didn’t think honestly that I could do it,” Gauff said on the court after etching her name among the all-time greats. “I also felt like this is the one I really wanted, because I do think this was one of the tournaments that, when I was younger, that I felt I had the best shot at winning.”
Maybe falling for a second time in a Grand Slam final to the No. 2-ranked Gauff is why Sabalenka, the world’s No. 1 ranked women’s player, slouched in her chair right after the match and less than one hour later could not suppress her hubris and acknowledge the talents of Gauff.
“I think she won the match not because she played incredible,” said the 27 year old from Belarus, whose three Grand Slam titles came at the 2023 and 2024 Australian Open, and 2024 US Open. “Just because I made all of those mistakes, if you look from the outside, from kind of easy balls.”
To compound the denial, Sabalenka puzzlingly asserted that if No. 7-ranked Iga Swiatek from Poland, who Sabalenka bested 7-6, 4-6, 6-0 in the semis, had faced Gauff in the finals, she would have beaten her.
On Sunday, Sabalenka, undoubtedly advised by her public relations team or some else in her camp, offered what she meant to be a mea culpa on her Instagram account, but could be perceived as furtherance of her dismissiveness of Gauff.
“You all know me … I’m always going to be honest and human and in how I process these moments … I can’t pretend it was a great day for me.
“…I didn’t play my best, and Coco stepped up and played with poise and purpose … She earned that title. Respect…”
Sabalenka cited windy conditions as one of the causes for her 70 unforced errors. Gauff countered that portrayal by maintaining she pressured Sabalenka into some of these misfires.
“I know that when I play on a windy day, you’re not going to win by hitting winners, you’re not going to win by playing pretty tennis …You kind of have to make her make those mistakes.”
A rivalry between the two stars has begun in earnest. With Wimbledon, the next Grand Slam, starting in London, England on June 30, the anticipation for a possible rematch will be palpable.