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.
