Aryna Sabalenka in Hot Water for ‘Distasteful’ Comments on Coco Gauff’s Championship

(The Post News)- While the world celebrates Coco Gauff for being the first American tennis player to claim the singles title at the French Open since the legendary Serena Williams won it in 2015, some people aren’t as excited and happy, especially Aryna Sabalenka, the Belarusian who played against Gauff in the French Open Final.

Although Sabalenka is a champion of three Grand Slams, it is notable that throughout her match against Gauff, she committed frequent errors, which ultimately led to Gauff’s 6(5)-6-6 win. Instead of portraying good sportsmanship and congratulating the 21-year-old for playing as hard as she did, Sabalenka expressed that had it not been for her errors, Gauff wouldn’t have won the match.

During her post-match speech at the Roland Garros Press Conference, Sabalenka stated that the reason she didn’t win the match against Gauff was because she didn’t handle herself “mentally well” and was “over emotional” during her match, and even blamed the weather on being “too windy”. She went further to say doesn’t think Gauff won because she played ‘incredible’, but because she “made all of those mistakes”, and that under different circumstances, Iga Swiatek, who won the French Open 4 times, would’ve “won at [her]”.

When asked to respond to Sabalenka’s comments on her French Open win, Gauff stated that she ‘doesn’t agree’. Guaff stood up for herself and said that it wasn’t “fair” of Sabalenka to say that she didn’t deserve to win, and Iga did, because she beat Iga in the last few matches they played with “straight sets”, regardless of her being a 4-time champion.

Gauff even went on to applaud Sabalenka on being number 1 in the world, showing good sportsmanship, saying that “she was the best person to play”. Even at that, Gauff asserted that she believed that she had “a good shot” at winning because she put in the work just as much as her opponent did.

Fans have since called Sabalenka out for her ‘classless’ and ‘disrespectful’ comments, and say that she owes Gauff an apology.