World No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka came across a sore loser — in the eyes of many analysts — after her loss to Coco Gauff in the French Open final.
Sabalenka blamed her loss on the “terrible conditions” in Paris and undermined Gauff’s win during her news conference by suggesting that the American got lucky with some of her mistimed shots.
“She was hitting the ball from the frame. Somehow, magically, the ball lands in the court. It felt like a joke,” she had said. To make matters worse, Sabalenka felt Iga Swiatek, whom she beat in the semifinal, would have defeated Gauff if they met in the championship round.
The comments rubbed Gauff the wrong way. The 21-year-old said Sabalenka’s remarks weren’t “fair” as she defeated Swiatek during their previous encounter in the semifinal of the Madrid Open.
Now that the dust has settled, Sabalenka regrets her comments. Ahead of this week’s Berlin Open, she issued an apology to Gauff.
“It was just completely unprofessional of me. I let my emotions get the better of me. I absolutely regret what I said back then,” she told EuroSport Germany. “I wanted to apologize and make sure she knew she absolutely deserved to win the tournament and that I respect her. I never intended to attack her. I was super emotional and not very smart at that press conference.”
While it was a classy gesture by Sabalenka, she may be picking up the notorious habit of overlooking her challengers. She admittedly underestimated Madison Keys at the 2025 Australian Open, where the latter was a huge underdog entering the final. Keys would proceed to stun Sabalenka to claim her first career major.
Gauff was similarly the underdog entering the Roland-Garros final against Sabalenka, especially after losing to her in the Madrid Open final in the lead up to the event. A similar script unfolded as Gauff dropped the first set before rallying to win the match.
Sabalenka and Gauff could be on a collision course again at next month’s Wimbledon, a major that neither woman has won.
