"I sent her a message to apologise": Aryna Sabalenka moves past Coco Gauff controversy ahead of Wimbledon

Aryna Sabalenka has moved past the controversial remarks she made about Coco Gauff following her loss in the Roland Garros final a few weeks ago. The World No. 1 is preparing to make her Wimbledon debut this Monday against Canadian Carson Branstine and enters the tournament as one of the top favourites alongside Gauff.

Sabalenka and Gauff recently faced off in the French Open final, where the American claimed the title in three sets after coming back from a set down. After the match, Sabalenka expressed visible frustration during her press conference and made comments that many interpreted as downplaying her opponent’s performance.

“She won the match — not because she played incredible — just because I made all of those mistakes,” Sabalenka said when asked about the final against Gauff. “I don't know. If Iga [Swiatek] had played me that day, I think she would’ve won.”

“It was honestly the worst tennis I’ve played in I don’t know how many months,” she added. “Conditions were terrible. She was simply better in those conditions than me. I think it was the worst final I’ve ever played.”

Gauff, for her part, chose not to escalate the situation, stating: “I don’t agree with that. I mean, I’m sitting here. No shade to Iga or anything, but I played her and I won in straight sets. I don’t think that’s a fair thing to say. Anything can really happen.”

Despite the tension, Sabalenka and Gauff showed there were no hard feelings, later appearing together in a light-hearted TikTok video. At Wimbledon, Sabalenka was asked how things stand between her and Gauff off the court following the Roland Garros drama.

“Well, we've always been really good with Coco. Honestly, as I said in my statement and in my message to her, I didn’t want to offend her. I was just completely upset with myself, and emotions got the best of me. I just lost it.”

“I wanted to say it in person, but I wasn’t sure if she’d be in Berlin, so I sent her a message to apologise and make sure she understood I didn’t mean to offend her,” the three-time Grand Slam champion added. “And of course, she has my respect — she knows that. I’m glad she responded, like, ‘all good, don’t worry.’ And yeah, as you saw in the video, we’re good, we’re friends. So I hope the US media can be easy on me now.”

“I did what I did, and I got what I deserved, I believe. It was a tough time for me. I'm glad I had a book in Mykonos to get distracted and return to reading. Lesson learned — it won’t happen again.”

Sabalenka leads the top half of the draw and will debut against Carson Branstine, with a potential second-round clash against Emma Raducanu. Meanwhile, Gauff begins her Wimbledon campaign on Tuesday against Ukrainian Dayana Yastremska. The two stars are on opposite sides of the draw and could only meet in a potential final.