Roland Garros, Paris – Aryna Sabalenka made no effort to hide his disappointment after Losing the final of the French Open in Coco Gauff On Saturday, calling on his own “terrible” performance repeatedly and saying that it was “the worst tennis that I played in the last one, I don’t know how many months”.
“It’s just a joke,” she said.
She offered this analysis once she had left the Court Philippe-Chatrier, after a 6-7 defeat (5), 6-2, 6-4. In his interview on the ground, Sabalenka avoided the usual platitudes and the usual opening line to congratulate the winner and their team, and went directly to the self-flagellation. After fighting tears, she said: “Honestly, guys will do so much harm, especially after two weeks as difficult, playing great tennis and in these terrible conditions playing such terrible tennis in the final – it really hurts.”
“Coco, congratulations under these difficult conditions. You were the best player than me. Congratulations for two big weeks,” she said.
During his press conference, Sabalenka again made the jugular. This time, she did not focus on her own shortcomings, but on the weather conditions that had defined the type of tennis played.
“The conditions were terrible, and it was simply better in these conditions than me. I think it was the worst final I have ever played. ”
Sabalenka’s devastation was understandable. It is the world n ° 1 and has lost two Grand Chelem finals in a row, both in three sets, both having been the big favorite. Five months ago, Madison Keys beat her in Melbourne to win his first major, and in Paris, Gauff has thwarted the candidacy of Sabalenka for the snap of the land without hard.
The match was on her racket, but Sabalenka struck 70 uncompvious mistakes against only 37 winners while struggling to face the factors outside of her control. Namely, the wind, an inspired gauff and the pressure of what was at stake.
Given the possibility of renting the defensive projection inspired by Gauff, Sabalenka said that his opponent had won the match “flowing and playing these tall balls of the frame”, before saying directly that Gauff had framed, or by undressing many shots.
“It was hitting the ball in the frame. In one way or another, as if by magic, the ball lands on the ground.
“She won the match not because she played incredible, just because I made all these mistakes, if you look from outside, easy balls.”
Tennis is considered a 50-50 battle, but games and styles of play mean that this is not always the case. Gauff won the final on Saturday by assuming the role of supporting the actor in Sabalenka, the protagonist, knowing that the match was not on his racket and making his best assets – his legal coverage, his lateral movement and the basic defense – the most important things in the match.
She played the conditions. Sabalenka did not do it, saying later that, as the match advanced and that it became more winking, it became “too emotional”. She compared her detangling at the last time she played Gauff in a Grand Chelem final, at the US Open two years ago. “Another terrible performance of me against Coco in the final,” she said.
Sabalenka added that the quadruple champion IGA świątek had beaten her in Thursday’s semi-finals, “I think she would be released today and she would get victory.”
During his press conference, Gauff replied. “I mean, I don’t agree with that. I’m sitting here, ”she said.
“The last time I played – no shadow against IGA or anything, but I played it and I won in straight sets. Yes, I don’t think it’s just a just to say, because everything can really happen.”
This leaves Sabalenka in a strange place. It remains n ° 1 world remotely, but it has not won a title of the Grand Slam this year and was well below its best level in the final. Throughout the match, she seemed uncomfortable with oscillations of the momentum and uncomfortable conditions. But a similar change has occurred against świątek: in both games, Sabalenka led 4-1, had a point for 5-1, and was removed in an equality break, a under the roof and one in the open air. Against świątek under the roof, Sabalenka resets, a less intangible to fight. Against Gauff, the collection of intangibles – time, issues, history – seemed to overwhelm it.
And for regular observers of her matches, her reaction to the defeat on Saturday was essentially an extension of how she reacts at smaller moments of disappointment in matches: reprimanding herself and not accepting that her opponents will sometimes be too good. This kind of mentality is part of what motivates the great champions. But does he always show it useful?
Friday, his performance coach, Jason Stacy, asked this question at a press conference and underlined one of the team’s mantras: “Do not fight him, do not feed him.”
He spread by saying: “We do not want to fight this, because stress, anxiety, pressure, errors, all these things will be there, so you cannot pretend that it will not be one thing, but you do not want to feed it either and give it too much energy or power.”
When asked if Sabalenka’s frustrations were a boost, Gauff said that she hadn’t read it too much, but “obviously, when you see your opponent frustrated under no circumstances, if it’s difficult or not, it obviously elevates you simply because you know they are frustrated.”
Sabalenka will go to the Greek island of Mykonos to recharge and, in his words, indulge in “Tequila, gum and swimming”. She laughed by saying that she would be “like the tourist for a few days”. But even if she was trying to clarify the atmosphere and watch her holidays, she could not help but to castigate the events of the previous few hours.
“I just need (a) a few days to completely forget this crazy world and this crazy-if I could swear, I would swear at the moment, about this crazy thing that happened today,” she said. “I think everyone understands. I’m just trying to be very polite right now, but there is no other word that could describe what has just happened today on the field. ”
Everything being equal, Sabalenka is undoubtedly the best player in the world. But tennis matches are not equal. The way she manages the intangible active ingredients that can shape them will define the next phase of her career.
(Top Photo: Julian Finney / Getty Images)
