Sabalenka moving on from Gauff spat: “I learned my lesson”
The world No 1 said she and Gauff have cleared the air after her harsh words following their French Open final earlier this month
Aryna Sabalenka in her Wimbledon semi-final (Action Plus/Panoramic)
Aryna Sabalenka says she has learned her lesson after her harsh words about Coco Gauff after her defeat by the American in the final of the French Open earlier this month.
The Belarusian had already apologised to Gauff shortly after the Paris final, where she said that she had lost the final due to 70 unforced errors, rather than the American winning it and added that had Iga Swiatek beaten her in the semi-finals, she would have seen off Gauff in the final.
Gauff held her ground at the time, saying she thought she did what it took to win but Sabalenka quickly apologised, in a statement and personally, and then, here at Wimbledon, released a video of the pair on TikTok dancing together, burying the hatchet.
“We’ve always been really good with Coco,” Sabalenka told reporters at Wimbledon on Saturday. “Honestly, as I said in the statement and I messaged to her, I didn’t really want to offend her. I was just completely, like, upset with myself, and emotions got over me. I just completely lost it.
“Of course, she’s got my respect. She knew it. She knows it. I’m happy that she was, like, Yeah, it’s all good, don’t worry. Yeah, as you saw the video, I was talking, we are good, we are friends. I hope the U.S. media can be easy on me right now.
“I got what I deserved, I think”
Sabalenka was roundly criticised on social media for her words at the time and said she took full responsibility for the mistake.
“I did what I did. I get what I deserve, I believe,” she said. “It was tough time for me. I’m glad I had a book at Mykonos so I could just get distracted by reading book. The lesson is learned. Definitely not going to happen again.”
Sabalenka was asked if she would like to play Gauff in the final at Wimbledon, to set the record straight, and said she would love to, because that would mean she was in the final.
“Overall I don’t really care,” she said. “If I make it to the finals, I don’t care. But also, I mean, I would love to face Coco. Hopefully I will win, but then it doesn’t matter what I’m going to say there. If I win, everybody going to be like, Oh, yeah, of course, you know?
“But I don’t want to lose to show that, guys, I learned the lesson. I’m not going to be like that. I don’t know, in this case maybe I don’t want to see Coco if I make it to the finals. But if she’s going to be there, I’m happy because I want to get the revenge.”
GETTING OVER-EMOTIONAL AN ISSUE
Sabaleka said usually she thought of herself as a decent loser, someone who can accept being beaten. But something inside her snapped after her Paris loss.
“This time, the emotions took over me,” she said. “But on court, like in the finals or, like, semi-finals, sometimes I can get over-emotional. I would like to improve that. I would like to stay to the same mentality I have during the tournament, because I believe I get over-emotional at the last stages of the tournaments because, like, I have this desire of winning. Sometimes it’s get over me, and I can lose control over my emotions. So I would love to improve that at the last stages of the tournament.
“But honestly, I’m kind of glad what happened to me at Paris, because I was able to learn a lot. I was able to sit back and being open to myself, not just to ignore some things. I think I realised a lot of things about myself in those last stages of the tournaments.
“We spoke with the team. I think we learned something. I really hope it will never happen again.”
