After a difficult start to the season, Gauff found her form on the red clay, reaching finals at the Madrid Open and Italian Open.
Despite windy conditions from the opening point, Sabalenka struck the ball beautifully early on as she established a 4-1 lead.
While the Belarusian started the second set completely flat and increasingly frustrated by the gusty conditions, Gauff rose to the occasion.
In stark contrast to Sabalenka, Gauff remained positive, cheering on her successful points while betraying minimal emotion when she faltered.
Gauff pushed Sabalenka back with her backhand and smothered her opponent’s second serve in the second and third sets.
Over the course of her five years at the top level, Coco Gauff has established an unbreakable reputation for her combat toughness. Regardless of the importance of the situation or the condition of her strokes, she will fight with everything she has and make any opponent’s life extremely difficult. She will almost always manage to get through.
In one of the most significant moments of her career, Gauff won her first French Open title by defeating Aryna Sabalenka 6-7 (5), 6-2, 6-4, demonstrating the full extent of her tenacity and resilience across the net from the world’s best player.
Many questioned whether Gauff, who was a 15-year-old with a lot of potential, would be able to live up to the hype and become a major champion when she first appeared on the tour in 2019. Her forehand and serve issues are well-documented, and her entire career has been closely examined. Despite all of the challenges and disappointments, she simply continued working. She has already won two Grand Slam titles at the young age of 21.
Gauff, now 10-3 overall, has won her last two grand slam finals since losing her first final at Roland Garros in 2022 at the age of 18. When Gauff lost in this final three years ago, he said, “I was going through a lot of things.”. “I have many gloomy thoughts, but I’m just glad to be here. It simply means a lot that I stuck with it. “”.
This triumph also emphasizes how crucial patience is. Gauff found her form on the red clay after a challenging start to the season, making it to the finals of both the Italian Open and the Madrid Open. Gauff wasted a big opportunity against Jasmine Paolini in Rome after losing to Sabalenka in two hard sets in Madrid. She performed well in the largest clay court competition ever. She remarked, “I guess that’s all that matters because I got the most important one.”.
After yet another tense performance in a grand slam final, Sabalenka’s rage was evident, despite the fact that she has admitted to using humor as a coping strategy after tough defeats to mock her team. The 27-year-old’s victory over four-time champion Iga Swiatek in the semi-final highlighted the tremendous effort it has taken to change her game and mindset. Here, however, she experienced emotional breakdowns during the most trying times.
“I played great tennis, but this loss hurts so much, especially after such a tough two weeks,” a tearful Sabalenka said, criticizing both the circumstances and her performance. and played dreadful tennis in the championship match under these awful circumstances. “.”.
Since 2012, this was the first time the top two female players have faced off in a French Open final. Over the course of the last five years, Sabalenka and Gauff have developed a fierce rivalry, competing in multiple thrilling three-set matches, including an iconic battle in New York where Gauff defeated Sabalenka to win her first major title at the 2023 US Open.
Sabalenka put herself ahead 4-1 early on with a beautiful shot despite the windy conditions from the first point. But after that, she broke down. She had a lot of trouble with the wind, losing emotional control and making a lot of unforced mistakes. A determined Gauff chased down every ball and gave nothing away as Sabalenka’s groundstrokes were in disarray. In the tiebreak, Sabalenka was behind 3-5, but she recovered and won the set with four straight points.
The most likely scenario at that moment was for Sabalenka to unwind and play unrestrictedly until the very end. Rather, the emotional energy she expended appeared to leave its mark. The Belarusian began the second set flat and growing more and more irritated by the windy conditions, but Gauff stepped up to the challenge.
Unlike Sabalenka, Gauff maintained her composure, applauding her points when she was successful and showing little emotion when she was not. She concentrated hard on pursuing every ball, extending every point, and seeking out chances to make an impression. When the pressure mounted on important points, she remained composed.
In the second and third sets, Gauff smothered her opponent’s second serve and used her backhand to push Sabalenka back. Once a vulnerability, her forehand held up admirably, kicking up heavy topspin out of Sabalenka’s strike zone. In her time of need, she discovered scalding first serves. As she finished with the greatest victory of her career, Gauff’s mental toughness got her through the most trying times, including a breathless final game that veered from match point to break point and back again.
