After bagging her first Roland Garros title, Coco Gauff found herself responding to a bold claim made by World No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka. And as Gauff is known for her unfiltered persona, she surely didn’t hesitate to clap back at it.
After Sabalenka lost to Gauff in the French Open final, the World No. 1 dropped a rather cheeky dig at Gauff. As per the tennis professional, if Iga Swiatek had beaten her in the semifinal, she would have gone on to defeat the now-champion Gauff.
“If Iga had beaten me the other day, I think she’d come out today and get the win,” Sabalenka said. “It just hurts. I’ve been playing really well, and then in the last match, to go out there and do what I did, it hurts.”
When the young player was asked to respond, she handled it with her usual mix of confidence and a little humor. Well, a little bit of a dig at Iga Swiatek as well.
“I don’t agree with that. I mean, I’m sitting here,” Gauff said with a laugh. “No shade to Iga or anything, but I played her and I won in straight sets. I don’t think that’s a fair thing to say. Anything can really happen.”
Coco Gauff continued, giving credit to Sabalenka’s level of play and how tough the matchup truly was. “Honestly, the way Aryna was playing the last few weeks, she was the favorite to win. I think she was the best person I could’ve played in the final. Her being No. 1 in the world, she was the best person to play. I think I got the hardest matchup just if you go off stats alone.”
The 20-year-old American, now a two-time Grand Slam champion, also revealed that part of her actually preferred to face Swiatek. Simply because Sabalenka has been at the top of her game lately. She said, “If you ask me honestly who I wanted to play, it was Iga. Just because I felt Aryna was playing so good,”
Continuing her train of thought, she added, “Obviously, Iga is a tough opponent too. Honestly, neither of them would’ve been the better shot,” she added, laughing. “But it played out how it played out, and that’s why I’m here today.”
Coco Gauff’s win at Roland Garros marked a historic moment. She became the first American woman to win the title since Serena Williams in 2015, and the youngest American champion in Paris since Serena in 2002.
