Coco Gauff won her first French Open title – and her second Grand Slam – by outplaying World Number one Aryna Sabalenka in windy conditions on Centre Court where there were twelve breaks of serve in the first two sets alone.
Gauff, who lost the one-sided 2022 final to Iga Swiatek, has now gone one better and also pocketed over €2.5m in prize money after a 6-7 (5-7), 6-2, 6-4 battle against the Belarussian top seed.
“It feels great to lift the trophy. Being on the podium is really cool.” said Gauff after the match. “I like how they do that. It makes you feel like on top of the world. That was definitely a moment I won’t forget and a crowd full of people too. Seeing the flags in the crowd means a lot. Some people may feel some type of way about being patriotic, but I’m definitely patriotic. I’m proud to be American, and I’m proud to represent the Americans that look like me and people who kind of support the things that I support.”
While Sabalenka claimed this was one of the ‘worst finals’ she had played in, the American clearly handled the wind better and she compared today to her opening match played in similarly windy conditions, despite playing her last two matches indoors under the roof:
“It was really like my first-round match. It felt very similar to that. So, I knew what to expect. It was super tough when I walked on the court and felt the wind because we warmed up with the roof closed. And I knew it was just going to be about willpower but also mental. And yeah, it really came down to the last few points. But overall, I’m just really happy with the fight that I managed today. It wasn’t pretty, but it got the job done and that’s all that matters.”
The pair had played ten times previously and the head-to-heads were locked at five wins apiece, with Sabalenka winning their latest meeting in the Madrid final, also on clay. She has found excellent consistency on all surfaces and became the first player since Serena Williams to reach the quarter-finals at 10 consecutive Grand Slams.
However, Sabalenka clearly struggled to find her game in the stiff breeze, committing an uncharacteristic 70 unforced errors overall. After the match she claimed that had Iga Swiatek beaten her in the round before then the Polish former champion would win the competition – something which irked today’s winner:
“I don’t agree with that, I don’t think that’s a fair thing to say,” said Gauff. “I’m here sitting here and last time I played, I won in a straight-sets. Because anything can happen really. The way Aryna was playing the last few weeks, she was the favourite to win and I think she was the best person that I could have played in the final. I think I got the hardest matchup, just if you go off the stats alone. Obviously, Iga being a champion here, it was going to be a tough match either way. I think regardless of who I played, I think I had a good shot to win.”
Gauff overcame the disappointment of losing a hard-fought first set on a tie-break and changed tactics for the remainder of the match.
“I was trying to be more aggressive in the second set, which worked. Then the third, I mean, I knew she was going to raise her level after she came out playing well in that first game. It’s so hard to out-hit her, so I was trying my best to put her on defence. But with the wind, I felt it was also more important to try to get as many balls in the court as possible just because it was tough to plant your feet. The ball was moving so much. Some shots that I felt really comfortable on a normal day felt awful today.”
Gauff has now won her second Slam by the age of 21, and revealed that she paid close attention to the trophy presentation when she lost the 2022 final to Swiatek: “I just remembered that ceremony when Iga won. I just remember trying to take it all in and felt like I wanted that experience for myself. I was like, ‘wow, that’s such a cool moment’. So, when the anthem got played today, I had those reflections.”
Gauff took time to thank her parents, in particular her mother who has begun to travel with her more around the world and who provided the ‘female energy’ in her mostly male support team. Gauff also admitted going through a ‘dark period’ in her tennis career as she struggled to come to terms with performing in the biggest matches and on the biggest stages.
“It was a tough time. I was doubting myself, wondering if I would ever be able to circumvent, especially my mentality going into that [French Open 2022 Final] match. I was crying like before the match and so nervous and literally couldn’t breathe and stuff. So, I was like, if I can’t handle this, how am I going to handle it again? And then obviously the US Open happened, which I think that created that reaction. And now I just felt really ready today and I was just going to leave it all out there.”
Gauff, who confessed to ‘tanking’ on her French lessons and avoided speaking to the home crowd in French, did however agree to giving it one more try in the future if she got another opportunity. After previously winning the US Open in 2022, she was now happy to dump the “one-Slam wonder” tag which sometimes follows players through their careers.
“The first one was maybe more emotional, but I think this one was just harder because, you win one and you just don’t want to get satisfied with just that one. So, it was very difficult to compare the two wins. And I also felt this one was one I really wanted because I do think this was one of the tournaments when I was younger that I felt that I had the best shot of winning. I just felt I would feel regrets if I went through my career and didn’t get at least one of these.”
