Coco Gauff wins French Open as Aryna Sabalenka makes bitter admission
Coco Gauff beat Aryna Sabalenka to win her first French Open singles title, with the American forced to come from behind to be at the world number one at Roland Garros
Coco Gauff produced a remarkable comeback win to beat Aryna Sabalenka 6-7 (5-7) 6-2 6-4 in the French Open final and quoted Tyler, the Creator as she celebrated becoming the new queen of clay.
The victory saw Gauff claim her second Grand Slam singles title and become the first American woman to lift the trophy since Serena Williams in 2015. The 21-year-old had previously reached the final in 2022, but was thrashed 6-1 6-3 by Iga Swiatek and had to come from behind to triumph over Sabalenka.
"I don't know what I've done to deserve such support from the French crowd but I really appreciate it," Gauff said after the game. "I'm gonna quote Tyler, the Creator, who said 'If I ever told you I had a doubt inside me, I think I was lying'. I'll leave that with you guys."
Sabalenka, meanwhile, apologised to her team after the match for a "terrible final" and vowed to "come back stronger". The world number one said: "This will hurt so much, especially after such a tough two weeks playing great tennis in terrible conditions.
"Thank you my team for the support, I'm sorry for this terrible final. As always I will come back stronger. Anyway, Coco congrats. In these tough conditions, you were a better player than me.
"Well done on a great two weeks. Congrats on the second slam. You're a fighter. Hard worker. Congrats to you and your team.
"Honestly sometimes it felt like she was hitting the ball from the frame. Somehow magically the ball lands in the court, and you are on the back foot.
"It felt like a joke, honestly, like somebody from above was just staying there laughing, like, let's see if you can handle this.
"It's another tough final in a Grand Slam against Coco. Another terrible performance from me against Coco in the final.
"I have to just kind of, like, 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, you know?"
The men's final will be contested on Sunday, with Jannik Sinner set to take on Carlos Alcaraz. Sinner beat Novak Djokovic in straight sets on Friday to book his place in the final, while Alcaraz defeated Lorenzo Musetti after he retired in the fourth set of their match.
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