Coco Gauff recently created history by winning her second Grand Slam singles title at the 2025 French Open. The American staged a remarkable comeback to defeat World No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka and capture her maiden Roland Garros singles title.
However, the Belarusian, frustrated with her performance, inadvertently downplayed Gauff’s triumph through her comments. In the wake of this, Gauff spoke at length about it in a recent interview.
Coco Gauff Responds to Aryna Sabalenka’s Post-French Open Final Comments
Despite winning the first set 7-6(5), in front of a packed Philippe-Chatrier crowd, Sabalenka lost control, hitting over 70 unforced errors, falling in the next two sets, 4-6, 2-6, and losing in her first-ever Roland Garros final. The Belarusian appeared frustrated with her performance and, in her post-match press conference, attributed the American’s victory to her own mistakes.
“I was just making unforced errors. I don’t know. I have to check the statistics. I think she won the match not because she played incredible. Just because I made all of those mistakes, if you look from the outside, from kind of easy balls,” Sabalenka said.
Gauff addressed Sabalenka’s comments in an interview with CBS, saying she was slightly surprised but emphasized the tough, windy conditions at the time.
“Yeah, I mean, I was a little bit surprised, but at the end of the day, it was a tough condition and a tough match. For me, I know when I stepped on the court, I’m from Florida, I played in the wind a lot. And I know that when I play on a windy day, you’re not going to win by hitting winners,” she said.
Notably, with her win over Sabalenka, Gauff avenged her loss in last month’s Madrid Open final. The American won in 2 hours and 38 minutes and hoisted the prestigious Coupe Suzanne Lenglen. She added:
“You are not going to win by playing pretty tennis because the ball is moving, your footwork, everything just feels like you’re in space, and you don’t know what is happening. But, I mean honestly, and also when you’re playing Aryna, she’s such a tough hitter, so you know she’s going to hit winners. So you kind of have to make those mistakes,” she added.
Gauff emphasized that her strategy was intentional and mentally crucial, while showing grace towards the Belarusian, stating that she was high on emotions after a tough loss.
“So I think everything that I did was for a reason and for a purpose. And yeah, that’s how I needed to play today. I knew that mentally going on court, that’s what I needed to do. If I went her way, I would have credited her as well. I think it was just high on emotions, so I’m giving her the benefit of the doubt. I know it was a tough loss, I’ve lost in the Grand Slam semifinal before,” she concluded.
Notably, Sabalenka later clarified on Instagram that Gauff handled the conditions better and deserved the triumph.
Gauff Leads in the Head-to-Head Against Sabalenka After French Open Win
After a phenomenal ending to her clay-court campaign, Gauff improved her head-to-head advantage to 6-5 against Sabalenka. This was their third meeting on clay, with the rivalry perfectly balanced at 1-1 ahead of the French Open final.
Gauff won in the fourth round of the 2021 Italian Open, while Sabalenka equalled the tally in Madrid last month. Every other battle between them has been on hard courts.
The 21-year-old also earned 2000 ranking points with the win, solidifying her position as World No. 2 with 8,083 points. Meanwhile, despite the defeat in the final, Sabalenka has a firm grip on the No. 1 spot with 11,553 points.
