Aryna Sabalenka provided a scathing assessment of her performance against Coco Gauff at the French Open, branding it ‘the worst final’ that she has played.
The Belarusian was defeated by Gauff 6-7(5), 6-2, 6-4, who collected the second Grand Slam title of her career.
Gauff became the third American woman to win the singles title since 1990 in the first French Open women’s singles final between the two highest-ranked players in the world since Serena Williams against Maria Sharapova in 2013.
Sabalenka was visibly disappointed with her level through the encounter, and couldn’t hide her frustration during her post-match press conference.
“It was really honestly the worst tennis I’ve played in the last, I don’t know, in the last I don’t know how many months,” concluded the world No 1.
“Conditions were terrible, and she simply was better in these conditions than me. I think it was the worst final I ever played.
“In these tough conditions, I couldn’t really mix it up.
“It was tricky. It was tricky in these conditions to do stuff that I was doing, for example, in Madrid that I know I have to do against her to get the win.
“Today was just, yeah, I mean, honestly sometimes it felt like she was hitting the ball from the frame. Somehow magically the ball lands in the court, and you kind of, like, on the back foot. Yeah, it’s just, you know, like — it felt like a joke, honestly, like somebody from above was just staying there laughing, like, let’s see if you can handle this.
“And I couldn’t today. I really hope the next time we play, if it’s going to be the same conditions, I’m going to play probably a little bit smarter, not overrush things, and yeah, try to stay there and try to fight.”
The roof was kept open for the final, meaning that – although it did not rain – both players had to deal with strong winds which disrupted numerous key rallies.
Gauff’s higher margin game was better suited to the conditions, especially when compared to the lower and flatter shots coming from Sabalenka’s racket.
“I think it was more windy, got more windy,” remarked the Sabalenka.
“Also, I think I was overemotional. I think today I didn’t really handle myself quite well mentally, I would say. So basically that’s it.
“I was just making unforced errors. Like, 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 from — like, if you look from the outside, kind of like from easy balls.”
Sabalenka’s loss marks back-to-back Grand Slam final defeats, after falling to Madison Keys 6-3, 2-6, 7-5 at the Australian Open in January.
Additionally, it is the world No 1’s second loss in such a final to Gauff herself – after the American claimed the title at the US Open in 2023.
“I think it’s another tough final in the Grand Slam against Coco. Another terrible performance from me against Coco in the final,” stated the three-time Grand Slam champion.
“Yeah, I have to just kind of, like, step back and look at this from the perspective and try to finally learn the lesson, because I cannot go out there every time against her in the finals of the Grand Slam and play such terrible tennis and give those wins, not easily, but like, emotionally, you know?
“In different ways I can actually see the same thing. Just the level was much better in the third set against Keys. She just basically overhit and went for crazy shots, and it went in. Kind of like overpowered me in the last couple of games.
“And today was just, you know, she literally just put an extra ball on the other side than I did, so…Yeah, I definitely have to, you know, step back and learn something, because I cannot keep doing the same mistake.”
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The Belarusian had a mammoth run to the showpiece match, defeating Olympic gold medallist Qinwen Zheng and three-time defending champion Iga Swiatek in her prior two matches.
After winning the title in Madrid and reaching the final in Stuttgart (losing to Jelena Ostapenko), Sabalenka was – rightly – the favourite to win the title in Paris, especially after overcoming the Pole.
“Yeah, it hurts,” admitted the runner-up.
“Especially when you’ve been playing really great tennis during the whole week. You know, you’ve been playing against a lot of tough opponents, Olympic champion, Iga, and then you go out and you play really bad.
“I don’t know, I think if Iga would win against me the other day, I think she would go out today and she would get the win. 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, that hurts.”
The Belarusian is next scheduled to play at the WTA event in Berlin, beginning June 16.
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