PARIS – Coco Gauff got claimed Roland Garros champion for the first time after a match full of emotion and energy.
“I’m happy to be here after so many dark thoughts,” she said, holding the trophy in her hands, referring to the final she lost to Iga Swiatek in 2022.
On a cloudy and windy afternoon in Paris, the North American held her nerve through tense moments, made fewer mistakes, and found control in a match full of momentum shifts. The world No. 2 defeated Aryna Sabalenka in the final 6–7 (5), 6–2, 6–4.
Earlier in the week, Sabalenka had summed up the unpredictability of women’s tennis when asked whether she or Iga Swiatek was the title favourite: “Women’s tennis is hard to predict.”
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And even though the final featured the WTA’s top two players, Sabalenka and Gauff, the match itself was a rollercoaster. From start to finish, it was unpredictable.
Sabalenka took the opening set in a tiebreak. Both players reached the decider after nine service breaks. Sabalenka led 4–1, Gauff turned it around to 5–4, and the world No. 1 failed to serve it out at 6–5.
Gauff’s morale didn’t crumble. She bounced back, sharpened her shots, and earned the trophy by enduring the blustery conditions.
Before the trophy ceremony began, as photographers rushed into position, the tournament played match highlights on the big screens to the sound of “Sweet Dreams” blasting through the stadium. Sabalenka avoided watching and hid her face behind a towel.
Both players cried—each in their own way, in a moment full of the raw contrasts that define sport. Sabalenka wept with frustration after losing another final to Gauff. Holding the runner-up plate, she struggled to begin her speech: “I can’t believe that after playing so well for two weeks, I played this badly in the final.”
Gauff cried tears of joy and fulfilment, having claimed her second Grand Slam title at just 21 years old.
