Last year, Coco Gauff defeated Aryna Sabalenka in the final of the 2025 French Open. The Belarusian committed several errors in the 6-7 (5-7), 6-2, 6-4 loss. This led Sabalenka to try to discredit Gauff’s victory in the press conference.
After the heartbreaking final loss, Sabalenka admitted it was “the worst final” she had ever played before claiming:
“I think she won the match not because she played incredible [but] just because I made all of those mistakes.”
Sabalenka faced immense backlash following the comments, especially in the United States. However, before the end of that month, she regretted her remarks. The two even patched things up and they came together for a funny dance video on TikTok at Wimbledon.
Now, almost a year later, Sabalenka was once again asked about her comments, as she shared her learnings from the incident.
“Yeah, that was very tough,” Sabalenka said in an interview. “I learned that I have to take my time after the match finished before I go to the press conference. When I lose the match, when you do it straight away, you know, you’re not you, you’re still that emotional person, like a crazy person who doesn’t really control what is going on, not controlling his mind well, and you say things that are not true.
“And I honestly, in that particular press conference, I didn’t really know what I was talking about. Then I went off and was going through the stats, talking to my team, and I got to a different conclusion and a different opinion. Then I messaged Coco saying, ‘Listen, I’m so sorry,’ whatever I messaged to her—I just wanted to apologize and tell her that that’s not what I think. That’s my opinion, and we get along pretty well.”
Coco Gauff Received Aryna Sabalenka’s Apology Well
Looking back, both Aryna Sabalenka and Coco Gauff displayed maturity in the wake of criticism that followed after those controversial press conference remarks from the former. Sabalenka told the media that she had written to Gauff to apologize, saying the emotions got the better of her. She said last year:
“Honestly, as I said in my statement and in my message to her, I didn’t want to offend her. I was just completely upset with myself and emotions got over me and I just completely lost it. … I messaged her to apologize and make sure she understood that I didn’t mean to offend her. And of course, she has my respect, she knew it, she knows it. I’m happy that she was like, ‘All good, don’t worry.’ And yeah, as you saw in the video, we were good, we were friends. So, I hope the U.S. media can be easy on me right now.”
Gauff also confirmed that she received an apology from Sabalenka while adding that she understood what Sabalenka was going through when she made those comments.
“I understood what she was trying to say,” Gauff said. “It was a terrible conditioned day. I don’t think I was playing well either, so I understood where she was coming from. Some of the stuff she said in the presser I was a bit more surprised about. I’m not someone to hold a grudge, and when I was talking to my circle about it, I was like ‘If she apologizes, I will be fine and we’ll move on.'”
Gauff also shared the TikTok video in part was to show people that both of them are on good terms.
“She did, and she did again when I saw her before our practice,” Gauff continued. “It was water under a bridge. I know Aryna, and I felt like before that we got along pretty well anyway. It wasn’t very hard to accept that apology. … That [Tiktok] was to show people we are on good terms. … I thought it would be a good idea for that so people could see it and move on because I think we’re both tired of talking about it.”
Since that incident, Gauff and Sabalenka have remained respectful towards each other.
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