Aryna Sabalenka has been called out for giving a “rude” speech after losing to Coco Gauff in the French Open final. The world No. 1 took a tight opening set before suffering an emotional collapse, and Gauff sealed a 6-7(5) 6-2 6-4 victory on a windy afternoon in Paris.
Both players struggled in the blustery conditions, and Sabalenka blasted her “terrible” performance as she addressed the Court Philippe-Chatrier crowd while fighting back tears. But top tennis coach Rennae Stubbs wasn’t happy with the 27-year-old’s comments.
“ugh….the tennis was not that bad. You made a bazillion unforced errors because youre playing against the fastest players in the world who is as gutsy as hell and had better composure then u!!” the former doubles No. 1 tweeted immediately after Sabalenka gave her speech.
“but to say it was horrible…..ugh!!!! Damn that was rude. I said what I said.”
The loss clearly hit Sabalenka hard. The 27-year-old broke down in tears when she was handed the microphone to give her speech and continued to cry as she spoke to the crowd.
Speaking through sobs, the top seed said: “Obviously guys, this one hurts so much, especially after such a tough two weeks, playing great tennis.
“To show such terrible tennis in the final really hurts. Anyway, congrats Coco, you were a better player than me.”
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