I was really looking forward to the French Open women’s singles final on Saturday. It was the dream final between the top two seeds, Belarusian Aryna Sabalenka (#1) and American Coco Gauff (#2). They just played in the final of the Madrid Open, and when Coco won her 2023 US Open trophy, she beat Sabalenka. They were the two best players during the clay-court swing, and a lot of tennis fans hoped this would be the final. Incidentally, I just love this matchup, and it’s one of my favorite matchups in the current WTA: Aryna is one of the most powerful WTA players on the tour, and Coco is one of the best defenders on the tour, not to mention one of the fastest.
At first, it looked like Aryna was going to roll through Coco, but then at some point in the first set, Coco started to get into a rhythm. Aryna began to malfunction, showing waves of emotion and panic. Aryna ended up winning the first set, then Coco just didn’t go away as Aryna’s level dropped off. Coco just kept running, kept getting everything back, kept fighting. Coco easily took the second set, and then the third was all about both women tussling, fighting, scrapping, running. Coco held her nerve spectacularly as Aryna continued to implode (similar to what happened in the 2023 US Open final). Coco Gauff defeated Aryna Sabalenka, 7-6, 6-2, 6-4. Coco won her second major singles title, and third major overall (she won the doubles title in Paris last year). She’s only 21!
The story of the match was multifaceted: it was about Coco’s mentality, her spectacular defense, her variety, her speed, her grit, her ability to handle the conditions, and her worst shot (her forehand) not letting her down in the last two sets. The match was also about Aryna’s implosion, Aryna’s enormous unforced-error count, her overhitting and inability to power through Coco’s defense.
Unfortunately, Aryna was incredibly bitter about the loss. In her loser’s speech on stage, some of the first words of her mouth were about the wind and the conditions. She also sobbed on stage and said her performance was “terrible.” Then it got worse in Aryna’s press conference:
On a day where Sabalenka described her 6-7 (5), 6-2, 6-4 defeat to Coco Gauff as “the worst final I ever played”, the world No. 1 concluded her press conference by expressing her belief that had she lost to Iga Swiatek in the semifinals, the Pole would have gone on to clinch a four-peat in Paris.
“If Iga would win me another day, I think she would go out today and she would get the win. Yeah, it just hurts,” said the three-time major winner. “Honestly hurts. I’ve been playing really well, and then in the last match, go out there and perform like I did.”
Sabalenka notably ended Swiatek’s 26-match win streak at the clay-court major, but Gauff also had a recent win over their mutual rival—sweeping Swiatek over a pair of 6-1 sets to reach the Madrid final before losing that 1000-level championship to Sabalenka.
Upon hearing what Sabalenka said, Gauff understanbly saw it far differently.
“I don’t agree with that. I’m here sitting here (laughter). Last time I played—no shade to Iga or anything—but I played her and I won in straight sets. Yeah, I don’t think that’s a fair thing to say, because anything can really happen,” she said.
I won’t defend Aryna whatsoever – she sounds like a bitter loser and she needs to clean this up quickly. That being said, I do think she meant to criticize herself and compare herself unfavorably to Iga Swiatek, and basically say: Iga has a better mentality than me, she’s better in finals. But it’s still crazy for Aryna to say it in that way, especially because… Aryna bageled Iga in their semifinal. Iga has been losing to EVERYONE this year. Iga’s mentality and game have been in the dumpster since she flunked a doping test last year. As Coco said, she beat Iga with ease when they played a month ago. Coco is actually on a three-match winning streak against Iga! Anyway, Aryna’s inability to give Coco credit for the win is really awful. Aryna is getting TONS of sh-t from the tennis community for her comments. On Sunday, Aryna did post a statement on her IG Stories, but the statement sucks and she’s still going to have to apologize and clarify when she gets to Wimbledon in a few weeks.
🗣️ Sabalenka’s statement on her IG 👇 https://t.co/O7Ekh82wz6 pic.twitter.com/8r6EDlK723
— Olly Tennis 🎾🇬🇧 (@Olly_Tennis_) June 8, 2025
"(Coco) won the match not because she played incredible, just because I made all of those mistakes."
-Aryna Sabalenka on struggling with the conditions and how she handled herself mentally pic.twitter.com/IQB6iS1wM9
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) June 7, 2025
Coco's response to Aryna's post-match comments is about as good as you could ask for.
Essentially, "I played the best player in the world and won. Anybody else (not just Iga) would have been an easier assignment."
#rolandgarros #cocogauff
— Tick Tock Tennis (@ticktocktennis.bsky.social) June 7, 2025 at 4:56 PM
Photos courtesy of Backgrid, Avalon Red.
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- Coco Gauff of the United States winning the women’s singles at Roland Garros on June 07, 2025 in Paris, France. Internationaux de tennis de Roland-Garros – Coco Gauff remporte la finale Dame 2025,Image: 1008383497, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Credit line: Lionel Guericolas/Avalon
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- Coco Gauff of the United States winning the women’s singles at Roland Garros on June 07, 2025 in Paris, France. Internationaux de tennis de Roland-Garros – Coco Gauff remporte la finale Dame 2025,Image: 1008383664, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Credit line: Lionel Guericolas/Avalon
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- Coco Gauff of the United States winning the women’s singles at Roland Garros on June 07, 2025 in Paris, France. Internationaux de tennis de Roland-Garros – Coco Gauff remporte la finale Dame 2025,Image: 1008383911, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Credit line: Lionel Guericolas/Avalon
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- Coco Gauff of the United States winning the women’s singles at Roland Garros on June 07, 2025 in Paris, France. Internationaux de tennis de Roland-Garros – Coco Gauff remporte la finale Dame 2025,Image: 1008384598, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Credit line: Lionel Guericolas/Avalon
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- Paris, FRANCE – Coco Gauff is seen celebrating her victory during the 2025 French Open at Roland Garros, basking in the excitement of her hard-fought success on the Parisian courts. Pictured: Coco Gauff BACKGRID USA 7 JUNE 2025 BYLINE MUST READ: Best Image / BACKGRID USA: +1 310 798 9111 / usasales@backgrid.com UK: +44 208 344 2007 / uksales@backgrid.com *UK Clients – Pictures Containing Children Please Pixelate Face Prior To Publication*
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- Paris, FRANCE – Coco Gauff wins her first title in Paris at the 2025 Roland Garros French Open Final (Day 14). Pictured: Coco Gauff, Aryna Sabalenka BACKGRID USA 7 JUNE 2025 BYLINE MUST READ: Best Image / BACKGRID USA: +1 310 798 9111 / usasales@backgrid.com UK: +44 208 344 2007 / uksales@backgrid.com *UK Clients – Pictures Containing Children Please Pixelate Face Prior To Publication*
Coco kicked butt!
Sabalenka is an appalling disgraceful spoilt woman. I am embarassed for her. Once again she was rude and disrespectful in defeat. She needs a new team to teach her how to behave, they are probably scared of her. She was also rude when she lost the AO to Keys. Sabalenka makes it all about herself and lacks grace. How can the first words out of your mouth to the whole world during a grand slam ceremony be that this is the worst final ever, when your opponent has just won the title? How can you say during the post match press conference that Iga would have beaten Coco? How can you say that Coco was just hitting the ball off the beam of the racquet, more or less saying that her ability to win the match was a fluke? How can you not give the person who won the championship not a single word of genuine praise? It was all about Anya, Anya, Anya…. Her on court speech and her post match press conference was shameful. Meanwhile Coco took the high road and barely responded to Sabalenka’s crass behaviour.
Aryna is always stank when she loses, this is what she does. She has no grace or respect for her opponents. I’m so happy for Coco and the gracious beautiful champion that she is.
She was super gracious at the AO final a few months ago…?
No, she was not.
Bravo Coco👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽. As for the other player, stop the self pity party and learn how to be a good sport when you lose.
Saying Coco didn’t win the match because she played incredible…is wild. You would Sabylenko has been playing long enough and doing enough pressers that she would know better.
And saying that Iga could have won the finals against Coco is insane
I loved the win for Coco!
What a sore loser this Aryna is.
Aryna sounds like a mess. Never heard of her until now (I don’t follow tennis), and didn’t know she was no.1
Don’t think her press conference will do her any favours when it comes to endorsements.
Well done to Coco.
“(Coco) won the match not because she played incredible, just because I made all of those mistakes.”
Wow, what a sore loser she is. How are you gonna criticize the performance of the winner when you lose?
OMG this woman is such a sore loser. I mean…. How hard is it to simply say, I tried my best, I had a terrible day, I wish I had done better. That’s all true and yet avoids implying that your opponent did not deserve to win. Keep your side of the street clean, FFS. There is so much *racism* cooked into the way that Europeans respond to Americans, it’s just become a trend line. The gymnastics event at the Paris Olympics was a case in point, when the judges goofed on their own score keeping, and then Serena Williams got rejected at a restaurant, when she was with her kids, and now this…. It’s just…. The issues that faced Meghan are clearly not just British issues. They’re *European* issues. I call them Eurodixies. The ladies here, who just try to pull rank and melt down when they get owned, in predictable fashion.
I must admit that I had to check her nationality and yup, ex-communist Belarus, it tracks.
She seems to imply that only white Eastern European girls can win the grand slam. Racism is alive and well and hope she thinks twice about the criticism she’s now receiving. But she is coming across like that other weird Eastern European anti-vaxxer tennis player Djokovic.
Would she have said the same thing if she had lost to a white player? She needs to rid herself of her entitlement and racist attitudes, and learn how to lose with grace and class.
Sabalenka has always been a terrible jerk. She has offered overt support to dictator Lukashenko (a lap dog of Putin’s), has dated a string of married men, throws abusive temper tantrums toward her coaching/fitness staff when she is losing, and was caught on video with her team pretending to p!ss on her Australian Open runner-up trophy. She also showed her ass when she lost a slam final to another (Black) American player, Madison Keys. She’s vile. And she’s bitter that she will make only a fraction of what Coco makes in endorsements.
@kali she sounds disgusting and disrespectful. She’ll appeal to a certain demographic but she’ll put off more people. An angry racist Belarusian isn’t a ringing endorsement.
I’m a big Sabalenka fan and was rooting for her in this one (as opposed to the Aussie Open, was 100% on #teamAmerica for that one), her game is beautiful and usually she’s tons of fun on court, win or lose. I did think it was a bit of a disappointing final as she by no means brought her best (think her 6-0 bashing via Iga was that moment), but her comments are still very disrespectful to Coco, who was absolute ice on Saturday and impressive the whole day.
Hopefully her follow up comments were sincere and she learns from it, but I get the feeling she’s one of those players that only really respects big ball bashing play, rather than Coco’s consistence and tactical style. I play myself so meet them a lot, it’s a shame but she’ll have to re-think that mindset if she wants to win against them.
To me she sounds like she is particularly butthurt about losing to a black player. I don’t know how else to take her comment that Iga would have won against Gauff? Especially in light of all the evidence to the contrary. Seems like it is super important to Sabalenka that the black girl doesn’t win – and if she does, she mustn’t get credit for it.
I really hope not, she was gracious enough in loss to Madison Keys (another black woman) earlier this year, so I’m hoping it was more being a terrible loser than racially charged. I don’t like to be blinded by optimism though so will keep that in mind, but racist discrimination would be indefensible.
As for Iga being the specific person mentioned I thought that was more in reference to Iga being the generational talent also mentioned alongside Aryna (which should also be rightfully given to Coco after this win) and reigning queen of clay. I’m guessing in Sabalenka’s mind she had dismantled the giant and had assumed the win without reckoning for the giant she’d underestimated (Coco) along the way, particularly considering how decisively she demolished Iga in their last set. That was my read on things as a tennis player, and in my experience of power players sometimes sneer at defensive players.
I actually think it is cruel to make the person who lost the match have to speak about it after. Plus some of those tennis reporters are true ass*****.
Thats said, Sabalanka should have been more gracious. She was outplayed, so just say it.
Congrats Coco!!!
She was outplayed and out classed!
Yay Coco!!!!
Much applause for her mad skills — all the way around!
My favorite thing I read about this match (sadly didn’t get to watch it!) was that the crowd at one point was chanting Aryna’s name and it was getting to Coco– so Coco started chanting her OWN name in her head!! LOVE that mental toughness.
I don’t really follow tennis, but I remember being at my friends’ house when the 2023 US Open final match between them was on. I didn’t know them and read their wikipedias while we watched, and I remember reading that Aryna was well liked by other players on the tour. I loved watching Coco win that match, and I thought Aryna was reasonably gracious in her loss. However, her appearance in the final promoted her to No.1 for the first time, and she was celebrated for that during the trophy presentation. Maybe she was less of a poor loser back then, since she was new to being No. 1, and being celebrated for for that took the sting out of the loss. Anyway, disappointing to see her develop into such a sore loser.
I love coco and Aryna, this thread is wild.
Saba was gracious when she lost the AO to another black woman 4.5 months ago. It had nothing to do with Coco’s race, aryna was straight up being a shit loser. She doesn’t support the war in Russia / Ukraine and spoke out against even tho her whole family lives in Minsk. Dating married men is gross but how about we call out those married men?! We don’t know what they told her. The whole thing is so toxic.
Coco didn’t play great but she gritted out the win and Saba fell apart quick. She couldn’t been classy in defeat but she wasn’t. Coco is very poised and I hope she has a long successful career.
If you listen well she was not gracious in defeat to Madison. Sabalenka is a selfish person, it has to be about her all the time she is totally spoilt.
How? She gave her a hug and gave Keys deserved props. She did other immature stuff that had nothing to do with Madison.
Aryna Sabalenka’s IG statement was fine and correct. She did play a crap game (70 unforced errors!) and Coco also totally outplayed her. The right woman won on Saturday based on play.
“Doping”
Well that explains the jawline…