Coco Gauff Sends Message to Fans Criticizing Aryna Sabalenka over Controversial Comments After French Open Defeat

Coco Gauff urged the fans criticizing Aryna Sabalenka to not be hard on her because of some of the comments she made after her three-set defeat in the French Open final. During the on-court interview, the Belarusian said she played “terrible tennis“.

En route to the final, the three-time Grand Slam singles champion ended Iga Swiatek‘s 26-match winning streak, denying her a chance to become a five-time Roland Garros champion. At the press conference after her defeat in the final, Sabalenka said that had Swiatek reached the final, she would’ve defeated the 21-year-old.

The comments after the match. Those comments, I was a little bit surprised by them, but at the end of the day, what happened happened. I won because I earned that win, and we both had to play in the wind. We both had to deal with those conditions.

Coco Gauff told ESPN

Gauff came from a set down to take home her career’s first French Open title. In the first set, Sabalenka squandered a 4-1 lead and could clinch the win only after a tight tie-breaker. Gauff said that even she was struggling to play in the windy conditions.

But she was probably emotional about it, so I am not going to take it with too much anything. And I do hope that people give her a little bit of slack, too.

Coco Gauff added

Sabalenka’s comments disappointed former player Andy Roddick, while Chris Evert stated that top-ranked players should know how to play in windy conditions by now. Serena Williams‘ former coach Rennae Stubbs thought Sabalenka’s remarks were “bad”.

Jimmy Connors, however, defended her, saying players should be given the time to “breathe” after their matches before asking them questions. Amid all this, Sabalenka has already taken to social media to clarify her controversial comments and admitted Gauff fully deserved the win.

Daria Saville defends Aryna Sabalenka’s comments about Coco Gauff

Australian tennis player Daria Saville thinks the reason why Aryna Sabalenka spoke those controversial words about Coco Gauff was because she was very emotional. Saville, who played as a qualifier in the clay-court Major and was defeated by reigning Australian Open champion Madison Keys in the first round, said the World No.1 spoke what she was feeling and may not change her perspective of the match even after watching it again.