Aryna Sabalenka has criticised her performance after missing out on her first French Open title.
The world No.1 was beaten in three sets by Coco Gauff, who claimed her second major title at the age of 21. After winning the opening tiebreak, Sabalenka struggled to maintain her form on the court and produced 70 unforced errors which was more than twice that of Gauff. On top of that, she won less than 50% of both her first and second service points.
“The past two weeks I played really tough matches, (against) really incredible players. I definitely played at a better level than in the final,” the 27-year-old told reporters in Paris.
“It was honestly the worst tennis I’ve played in the last I don’t know how many months.
“The conditions were terrible, and she (Gauff) simply was better in these conditions than me. I think it was the worst final I ever played.”
Sabalenka says the windy conditions troubled her in Saturday’s final and admitted she was ‘overemotional.’ She was heard shouting at her camp on multiple occasions out of anger.
Coming into her showdown with Gauff, Sabalenka had dropped only one set in six matches played in Paris, which was in the semi-finals against Iga Swiatek. She also produced wins over Olympic champion Qinwen Zheng and 16th seed Amanda Anisimova.
“You’ve been playing against a lot of tough opponents, Olympic champion, Iga and then you go out and you play really bad. I think if Iga beat me, she would go out today and would get the win,” she said.
“It just hurts. I’ve been playing really well and then in the last match to go out there and perform like I did, that hurt.”
Elaborating further, the two-time Australian Open champion has vowed to learn from her mistakes. Although first, it is a trip to Greece for a break from the Tour which will include ‘tequila, gummy bears and swimming.”
“I have to just kind of step back and look at this from the perspective and try to finally learn the lesson because I cannot go out there every time against her in the finals of the Grand Slam and play such terrible tennis and give those wins, not easily, but like, emotionally,” she concluded.
