'‘Damn that was rude!’ – Rennae Stubbs slams Aryna Sabalenka for comments after French Open final defeat

Rennae Stubbs, the former coach of Serena Williams, has lambasted Aryna Sabalenka for her comments after losing the French Open final. The 27-year-old came second-best against Coco Gauff with a score of 6-7, 6-2, 6-4 on Saturday.

Reflecting on her performance, Sabalenka was clearly unhappy with how things went on the court, where she committed 70 unforced errors, 40 more than her rival, which proved to be a significant factor in the eventual outcome of the match. The world number one also admitted that it was her ‘worst’ performance in the final of any event in her career.

“I have to say the first two weeks I played really tough matches, really incredible players. I definitely played a better level than in the final,” she said while talking to the media after the match. “It was honestly the worst tennis I’ve played in the last I don’t know how many months. Conditions were terrible. She was simply better in these conditions than me. I think it was the worst final I ever played.”

Those words did not go down well with Stubbs, who criticised Sabalenka in a post on her official account on the social media platform X. “ugh....the tennis was not that bad. You made a bazillion unforced errors because youre playing against the fastest players in the world who is as gutsy as hell and had better composure then u!! but to say it was horrible.....ugh!!!! Damn that was rude. I said what I said,” she wrote.

Defeat on Saturday means that Sabalenka has now lost two Grand Slam finals in 2025. Earlier, Madison Keys defeated her in the final of the Australian Open with a score of 6–3, 2–6, 7–5. On the other hand, Gauff secured her second major triumph. She became the first women’s American player to achieve this feat since 2015. The last player to do that was Serena in 2015 when she defeated Lucie Safarova in the final.