“So Disrespectful” – Aryna Sabalenka Labeled a ‘Loser’ for Denying Credit to Coco Gauff After Roland Garros Final

Coco Gauff claimed her second career Grand Slam after coming from behind to beat Aryna Sabalenka in the Roland Garros final.

“So Disrespectful” – Aryna Sabalenka Labeled a ‘Loser’ for Denying Credit to Coco Gauff After Roland Garros Final

Aryna Sabalenka, Coco Gauff (Image via X/The Tennis Letter)

Aryna Sabalenka has come under fire after her controversial post-match comments that seemingly suggested that Coco Gauff won the French Open because of her poor performance in Saturday’s (June 7) final. The Grand Slam title was Gauff’s second in her career after winning the first at the 2023 US Open.

Sabalenka succumbed to a disappointing 7-6(5), 2-6, 4-6 defeat against Gauff at the Roland Garros women’s singles final. The World No.1 was the favorite to win the match, but a determined and impressive Gauff earned the title. However, Sabalenka was nowhere near her best level from start to finish in the match.

The Belarusian star hit 70 unforced errors compared to just 37 winners as she struggled to cope with the factors outside of her control. Namely, the windy conditions in Paris and her lack of taking a less risky approach against Gauff, who gave everything to every point during the high-level intense match at Court Philippe-Chatrier.

During Sabalenka’s post-match press conference, she voiced out her frustration at the way she lost control of the match and on the number of unforced errors:

I think it was more windy. Also I think I was over emotional. Today I didn’t handle myself quite well mentally. Basically, that’s it. 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 incredibly. Just because I made all of those mistakes, if you look from the outside, from kind of easy balls.

However, fans on X slammed the three-time Grand Slam champion for her lack of grace and acknowledgement of her poor performance against a resolute Gauff. Here are some of the reactions from the Tennis community:

Gauff is now the seventh American woman in the Open Era to triumph at Roland Garros, and the first since Serena Williams back in 2015. She reached her first Roland Garros final in 2022 but lost to Iga Swiatek in straight sets. She learnt very much from the defeat and produced a masterclass performance against Sabalenka.

Tim Henman lauds Coco Gauff’s resilience in the Roland Garros final

Coco Gauff gave the first set to Aryna Sabalenka in the final after allowing the Belarusian to come from 6-6 (1-4) during the tiebreak to win 7-6(5). But she didn’t look back at the missed opportunity to close the set; rather, she focused on the second set and got the needed win, which inspired her ultimate comeback victory.

Coco Gauff
Coco Gauff (Image via X/Coco Gauff)

Former British No.1 Tim Henman was very impressed with the American star’s resilience after the first set. He revealed on TNT Sports that Gauff accepted the windy conditions of the Court Philippe-Chatrier and went ahead to adapt to them:

The resilience from Gauff was so impressive even though she lost the first set and started to turn things around in the second. Coco was more accepting of the conditions and therefore wasn’t trying to play perfect tennis, whereas Sabalenka was playing so aggressively all the time and needed to vary it a bit.

The French Open is Gauff’s first title of the season. She has been to two finals this year, losing the first against Sabalenka at the Madrid Open, before earning her revenge against the Belarusian on Saturday (June 7). Also, the American star now leads Sabalenka 6-5 in their overall head-to-head record, 2-1 on clay, and 2-1 in Grand Slams.

Also Read: Coco Gauff Explains Why She Didn’t Deliver Her Roland Garros Champion Speech in French