Coco Gauff defeated Aryna Sabalenka to win her first French Open title and her second career Grand Slam. Sabalenka took the first set but was bogged down by 70 unforced errors throughout the match. Still, Gauff earned the win and was the better player than the Belarusian on Saturday.
Not that Sabalenka would agree to that. The WTA No. 1 is an emotional player who can get upset at herself following matches, but she normally is not one to take away praise from her opponent, especially on losses. After losing to the American in the final, though, Sabalenka went low.
The final was the first at Roland Garros for Sabalenka, and the second for Gauff. The prior three years (and four of the last five) had belonged to Iga Swiatek. The Pole has won five majors, four of them coming in Paris. She is likely still considered the best WTA player on clay.
Coco Gauff responds to Aryna Sabalenka's surprising remarks after French Open final
But she lost to Sabalenka in the semifinals, and had she beaten the Belarusian, she might have lost to the American in the final.
Sabalenka doesn't think so.
Unexpectedly throwing a bit of shade at Gauff, Sabalenka told the media after the match, "If Iga would (have beaten) me (in the semifinals), I think she would go out today and she would get the win (over Gauff). Yeah, it just hurts. Honestly hurts. I've been playing really well, and then in the last match, go out there and perform like I did."
After being told of Sabalenka's words, the American responded to the media by saying, "I don't agree with that...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. Honestly, the way Aryna was playing the last few weeks, she was the favorite to win...But I think regardless of who I played, I think I had a good shot to win."
Ultimately, Sabalenka is the one who looks bad in the situation. She appeared to simply have sour grapes about the loss, which is odd for her. She is seemingly one of the more personable tennis players. She shows her emotions and is at times intentionally goofy. But her opinion that Swiatek would have beaten Gauff is misplaced.
Gauff took the high road for the most part. She disagreed with Sabalenka as she should have. Gauff would likely have defeated anyone she played in the final, especially if they were being put in the positions that Sabalenka was to have so many unforced errors.