Can Coco Gauff put her nerves to the side this time around?

Coco Gauff is set to contest her second French Open final this Saturday in a much-anticipated match between the two top ladies’ tennis players in the world. Playing against the world number one, Aryna Sabalenka, who holds the current US Open and Australian Open titles, Gauff may have the odds stacked against her. Despite this, she remains much more optimistic about her chances at major championship success this time around. 

Sabalenka beat Gauff at the start of 2025 in the Madrid Open, but the American has been playing some of the best tennis we have seen from her on her trip to the final of this year’s Roland Garros. Gauff is hoping that she has grown in maturity on the court for her second chance at the French Open final. 

Coco admitted that, despite not winning the title in 2022, she gained valuable lessons from that experience, which she has utilised in the past couple of years to enhance her game. In the lead-up to that final in 2022, Gauff admitted that she had struggled badly with nerves and an incredible fear of failure, which may have affected her performance on the court. She acknowledged in her post-match press conference following this year’s semi-final against Loïs Boisson that back then, when she lost, she thought it would be the end of the world. She went on to say that she quickly learned that ‘the sun will still rise’ and that these sorts of moments are not as big in the grand scheme of things as they may be.

Gauff has always had an incredible amount of pressure on her shoulders. Bursting onto the world tennis stage when she was incredibly young is sure to have played a part in this. Gauff won her first ITF doubles title and made her first appearance in an ITF singles final when she was just 18 at the Arizona Tennis Classic. Even those involved in the Arizona sports betting industry would never have had her at odds on to perform so well. Following its legalization, Arizona has seen a huge influx of online casinos and sportsbook which has matched its great rise in popularity in the state. With more platforms, theres more odds to choose from. Despite this, Gauff defied the odds and made her big break onto the world tennis scene.

Since her performance at Arizona, the American just continued to grow and prosper, picking up a multitude of titles and championships in her wake. Leading her to the 2022 French Open. Whilst doing so, she garnered a huge amount of public interest and expectations from Americans and general tennis fans alike. Such a young talent performing so well is always bound to do this in sports such as tennis, but it seems the limelight played on Gauff’s mind. 

Despite this, the 2025 French Open title is all to play for. Coco is at a completely different point in her career. She played some exceptional tennis against Swiatek in her early 2025 performance in the United Cup, and looked to have lined herself up for a great season this year, but has been set back by struggles in the Australian Open and throughout the spring. But as the European clay court season started, Gauff seemed to have picked herself up and bounced back. Her resilience and determination brought her consistent results in the Madrid Open and Italian Open before Roland Garros. 

It is clear Gauff has managed to mature her mindset and seems to have shored up her offensive game to complement her extremely durable and effective defensive game, which may be key in her face-off against the hard-hitting Sabalenka. Sabalenka has been on a journey of her own, solidifying her No. 1 ranking in recent months. She has proved that when she is in the zone, her hard-hitting ball striking, along with her confidence, is hard to beat. But with Gauff turning 21 earlier in the year and clearly showing signs that her mentality has changed completely, she is in with a chance of disrupting Sabalenka to perhaps clinch that French Open title. 

If Coco Gauff can beat Sabalenka in this high-stakes face-off between the best ladies’ tennis players in the world, it would be a huge achievement for her and is sure to signify just where she is in her tennis career. Regardless of the outcome, the sun will rise again, and people will get on with their day the following morning. If Gauff can contain her nerves and not let the weight of expectation restrain her, her free-flowing and robust playing style may just be the perfect antidote to Sabalenka’s heavy arsenal.