A jubilant Coco Gauff said she had “won the one she wanted” after she picked up her first French Open title at Roland Garros on Saturday, storming back to beat world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka 6-7 (5), 6-2, 6-4 in the most dramatic of Grand Slam finals.
The 21-year-old showed enormous resilience in the face of big hitting by Sabalenka, and a gusting wind, as she won her second Grand Slam title and became the first American to win the French Open since Serena Williams in 2015.
“I didn’t think honestly that I could do it,” Gauff said on court, after accepting the trophy from four-time champion Justine Henin. “But I’d like to quote American rap star Tyler the Creator, who said: ‘If I ever told you that I had a doubt inside me, I must be lying. I think I was lying to myself, because I could do it.
“I also felt like this is one I really wanted, because I do think this was one of the tournaments that, when I was younger, that I felt I had the best shot of winning. I just felt like if I went through my career and didn’t get at least one of these, I would feel regrets and stuff.
“Today, playing Aryna, I was just, like, I’ve just got to go for it and try my best to get through the match. That’s what I did.”
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Gauff was congratulated on social media by many famous names, including former President Barack Obama and former first lady Michelle Obama, and said she hoped she had given people at home something to cheer about.
“There’s a lot going on in our country right now with things,” she said. “But just to be able to be a representation of that and a representation of, I guess people that look like me in America who maybe don’t feel as supported during this time period, and so just being that reflection of hope and light for those people.”
Sabalenka had her chances and more than played her part, storming to an early 4-1 40-0 lead and taking the first set on the tiebreak despite failing to serve it out twice. But the Belarusian was guilty of too many unforced errors — 70 in all — as Gauff fought back and then held her nerve under intense pressure in the final set.
As Sabalenka’s final backhand flew agonizingly wide, Gauff fell on her back, almost unable to take in what she had achieved. “Oh my god, oh my god,” she said, before embracing the world No. 1 and then, after shaking hands with the umpire and high-fiving film director Spike Lee, sat courtside.
Speaking to TNT Sports, Gauff said: “It feels great. It was tough. I don’t think either of us were playing great but I knew as soon as I stepped on the court, when I felt that it was windy, it was going to be one of those matches, so I wanted to give myself the best chance on every point.”
It’s a second straight Grand Slam final defeat for Sabalenka, who was in tears as she addressed the crowd, apologizing for what she said was “terrible tennis.”
“Conditions were terrible, and she simply was better in these conditions than me,” Sabalenka told a media conference. “I think it was the worst final I ever played.”
This was the first Slam final between the world’s top two players since Caroline Wozniacki beat Simona Halep to win the Australian Open in 2018 and the first at Roland Garros since Serena Williams beat Maria Sharapova in 2013.
Sabalenka went into the match as the favorite, having beaten Gauff in the Madrid Open final last month. But with the roof open and a strong wind gusting around Court Philippe Chatrier, clean ballstriking was almost impossible, the ball dying on the clay one minute and flashing through the court the next.
Gauff held serve to open the final, but Sabalenka was quickly into her stride, holding to love and then breaking to love in the next game, helped by a number of deftly played drop shots. Gauff had shown enormous mental resilience throughout her run to the final, coping with 30 double faults along the way, and she fought back from 0-40 on her serve at 1-3, only to be broken anyway as Sabalenka marched to a 4-1 lead.
At 40-0 on serve in the next game, Sabalenka double-faulted and the tide seemed to turn. Gauff won the next four points, to get one of the breaks back, before holding to love in the next game.
Suddenly, Sabalenka was the one making errors, and Gauff took full advantage, breaking in a long eighth game to level at 4-4, much to the approval of Lee and Dustin Hoffman watching in the stands.
A forehand error from Gauff gave Sabalenka the chance to serve for the set, but she double-faulted on set point and then missed a backhand on the next. After a 13-minute game, Gauff finally broke back as Sabalenka sent a wild forehand over the baseline.
Sabalenka had another chance to serve for the set after breaking for 6-5, but Gauff broke back again, this time with a brilliant backhand pass off a Sabalenka smash. Gauff led the tiebreak 3-0 and 5-3, but Sabalenka put together a string of brilliant points to take it 7-5 and move ahead.
Gauff had battled back from the loss of the first set in beating Madison Keys in the quarterfinals and yet again, she showed her mental courage as she broke in the opening game of the second set.
A second break, to love, gave her a 4-1 lead that she never looked like relinquishing as Sabalenka began to let the wind and the situation get to her, blasting errors all over the place. Though Sabalenka did break back for 2-4, Gauff broke again in the next game and served out to level the match.
Using her drop shot well and moving Sabalenka out of her comfort zone, Gauff broke in the third game of the decider and extended her lead to 3-1. In the fifth game, she had two chances for a second break but couldn’t take them and Sabalenka held, before breaking back to level at 3-3.
But yet again, Gauff showed courage under fire, breaking to love to lead 4-3, holding crucially for 5-3 and then, after Sabalenka held serve, saving a break point and finally clinching victory on her second match point when Sabalenka fired a backhand wide.
An emotional Sabalenka apologized to her team on court and though she vowed to bounce back, she couldn’t get over how badly she felt she played.
“I think it got more windy [after 4-1]. Also, I think I was overemotional. I think today I didn’t really handle myself quite well mentally, I would say. So basically, that’s it.
“I was just making unforced errors. 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 from, if you look from the outside, kind of like from easy balls.”
