Coco Gauff US Open final loss was 'the best thing that ever happened' to Aryna Sabalenka says Andrea Petkovic

Aryna Sabalenka went into the US Open final last year already a Grand Slam winner, but the Belarusian fell to defeat against the teenager Coco Gauff.

It was this result that made Sabalenka realise that she needed to change parts of her game, as former player and now commentator Andrea Petkovic detailed.

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"I honestly think that loss against Coco Gauff in the US Open final was the best thing that happened to her [Sabalenka] because I had the chance to interview her right after she won the Australian Open," Petkovic said on the Tennis Channel Inside-In podcast.

"I asked her 'Aryna, you look much more like an all-court player. What happened in the off-season, like what was your thought process?

"She said, 'You know what, when I lost to Coco, I realized I need a B plan. I was hitting the ball well. I was playing well, but Coco was getting everything back and I just at one point didn't know how to win a point anymore or how to make a winner.

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"So, I was working on my net game. I was working on more variety'."

Sabalenka would get her revenge on Gauff, as she beat the American in the semi finals of this year's Australian Open en route to defending her title.