Aryna Sabalenka is being criticised by fans, following her defeat in the French Open 2025 final against Coco Gauff on Saturday, June 7, at Court Philippe-Chatrier. Gauff beat Sabalenka 6-7 (5-7), 6-2, 6-4 to claim her maiden French Open title and her second Grand Slam title overall.
After losing her second successive Grand Slam final this year, Sabalenka had a rather bizarre take on her loss. The three-time Grand Slam winner said that her coming second in the encounter was more due to her own mistakes rather than Gauff’s brilliance.
“I think it was more windy. Also I think I was over emotional. Today I didn’t handle myself quite well mentally. Basically that’s it. I was just making unforced errors. I don’t know. I have to check the statistics. I think she won the match not because she played incredible. Just because I made all of those mistakes, if you look from the outside, from kind of easy balls,” said Gauff in the post-match press conference.
Sabalenka made a total of 70 unforced errors during the game as compared to Gauff’s 30. Furthermore, the world number one stated that if Iga Swiatek had got the better of her in the semi final, she would’ve rolled over Gauff in the final.
“If Iga had beaten me the other day, I think she’d come out today and get the win. It just hurts. I’ve been playing really well, and then in the last match, to go out there and do what I did, it hurts,” she added.
Sabalenka was just one step away from winning her maiden title on clay when she outclassed Gauff in the first set winning in a hard-fought tie breaker. However, her American rival came out strongly in the second and third sets, winning by a comfortable margin and claimed her first major title on clay. Meanwhile, Sabalenka’s reaction to her loss didn’t go down well with fans as people slammed her for not respecting her opponent.
