Aryna Sabalenka got herself into trouble with comments she made following her loss to Coco Gauff in the final of the French Open this past month. Sabalenka said she thought Gauff had won "not because she played incredible" but because of her own mistakes, then went on to add that five-time major winner Iga Swiatek, whom Sabalenka had defeated in the Roland Garros semifinal, would have went on to defeat Gauff had they played instead.
The comments were not well-received, particularly by Gauff herself. Sabalenka eventually walked them back with a statement a day later, making it clear that she believed Gauff had deserved to win.
So on Thursday, Sabalenka, who was stunningly ousted by world No. 12 Amanda Anisimova in the semifinal at Wimbledon, wasn't taking any chances when the time came for her to take the podium for her post-match press conference.
"You’re not gonna see a Roland Garros press conference," Sabalenka said, indicating there would not be a repeat of the Gauff comments, per The Tennis Letter. "Anyone who was waiting for that, you can leave right now."
Perhaps some reporters in the room were wondering if there would be a repeat, given that there were a couple of tense moments in the match. Down, 2-4 and 30-40 in the third set, Sabalenka and Anisimova traded groundstrokes from the baseline before the latter went for a forehand winner down the line. Anisimova's shot clipped the net and resulted in her winning the point. Sabalenka then took exception to the fact that Anisimova did not apologize for the winner that was aided by the net cord, a gesture that's often done in tennis.
But Sabalenka was clear that she felt Anisimova played "braver" than she did.
While key match stats actually favored Sabalenka—31 winners and 37 unforced errors compared to 30 and 42 for Anisimova—it was the American whose nerve held strong in the end, particularly in the third set when Sabalenka held serve and earned a break to close the gap from 2-5 to 4-5.
Sabalenka went on to explain what made her "so philosophical" after the Wimbledon loss, in contrast to how she was following her Roland Garros defeat.
"I just don’t want to face that hate again," Sabalenka said with a laugh. "No, I mean, we’re all people. We all can lose control of our emotions. It’s absolutely normal. Every time when I was really that close today in this match to completely losing it and start yelling, screaming, smashing racquets, I kept reminding myself that that’s not an option and it’s not gonna help me stay in the match and fight for my dream.
"Even right now I took a bit more time before doing my media. Just so I can be Aryna, not that crazy person that was at that media day at Roland Garros."
More Wimbledon on Sports Illustrated
This article was originally published on www.si.com as Aryna Sabalenka Had Perfect Line About Coco Gauff Comments After Wimbledon Exit.
