This past Saturday witnessed Coco Gauff ascend to new heights, clinching her second career Grand Slam championship with a hard-fought triumph over world number one Aryna Sabalenka in the French Open 2025 final.
However, the American prodigy's magnificent victory has been somewhat overshadowed by surprising remarks from her vanquished opponent. Sabalenka's post-match comments, suggesting that fifth seed Iga Swiatek would have defeated Gauff had she reached the finals, quickly gained widespread attention.
Gauff, who entered Roland Garros without a single WTA title win in 2025, delivered a stunning redemption performance on the iconic clay of Court Philippe-Chatrier. Overcoming a visibly frustrated Sabalenka in a thrilling three-set battle (6-7(5), 6-2, 6-4), Gauff etched her name on the Coupe Suzanne Lenglen for the first time. Now, the newly crowned champion has addressed Sabalenka's contentious perspective head-on.
Coco Gauff responds to Aryna Sabalenka's Iga Swiatek assertion
The controversy ignited during Sabalenka's post-final press conference. When reflecting on her defeat, the Belarusian pointed to challenging conditions and her own emotional state.
"Yeah! I think it got more windy and also I was over emotional and today I didn't handle myself quite well mentally," Aryna Sabalenka stated. She attributed the outcome primarily to her own performance dip rather than Coco Gauff's excellence: "I was just making unforced errors, I have to check the statistics... She (Gauff) won not because she played incredible but because I made all of those mistakes."
Sabalenka further amplified her comments when discussing the pressure of Grand Slam finals and her journey to the championship match, which included a victory over Olympic champion Iga Swiatek in the semi-finals.
"Yeah that hurts especially when you've been playing really great tennis the whole week. You've been playing against a lot of tough opponents... and then you go out and then you play really bad," she expressed.
Then came the specific claim about Gauff's hypothetical opponent: "I think if Iga would win against me another day (semi-finals), she would go out there and she would get the win (finals)."
Naturally, these remarks reached the freshly minted champion. When Coco Gauff was later questioned about Aryna Sabalenka's assessment that Swiatek would have beaten her in the final, the young American offered a calm, confident, and direct rebuttal. Drawing on her recent experience against the Polish star, Gauff firmly disagreed.
"I mean. I don't agree with that," Gauff responded. She continued, referencing a specific encounter, "I'm sitting here and last I played, no, like to ego or anything but I played her (Iga Swiatek) and I won in straight set."
Gauff concluded her point by challenging the fairness of Sabalenka's assertion given the unpredictable nature of tennis, stating, "So, yeah, I don't think that's a fair thing to say because anything can really happen."
Gauff's response stands in stark contrast to Sabalenka's post-match analysis. While Sabalenka framed the loss around her own shortcomings and elevated Swiatek's potential threat, Gauff pointedly reminded everyone of her own proven capability against elite competition, specifically Iga Swiatek herself.Her reply, grounded in a recent straight-sets victory over the very player Aryna Sabalenka referenced, served as a powerful counterpoint.
It underscored Coco Gauff's self-belief and subtly highlighted the champion's prerogative to define her own hard-earned achievement, rather than having it diminished by hypothetical scenarios proposed by the runner-up. The exchange adds another layer of intrigue to the evolving rivalries at the pinnacle of women's tennis.