How Gauff and Sabalenka Danced the Fight Away

By making preemptive peace at Wimbledon, Coco Gauff wanted to make sure a beef with Aryna Sabalenka wasn't grass-fed.

WIMBLEDON, England — “It was everywhere,” Frances Tiafoe said Saturday of the conversation after the French Open final. “I mean, [even] non-tennis people: everyone was talking about it. It was a big, big thing.”

Tiafoe was discussing the story that got as much—if not more—discussion as the clay dust settled after Roland Garros as the exalted Alcaraz-Sinner final did: Aryna Sabalenka’s salty comments after her loss to Coco Gauff in the women’s final.

Emptying the French Open Notebook

A sampling, to refresh y’all, of the quotes from Sabalenka’s post-match press conference which sparked an outcry:

“I think she won the match not because she played incredible; just because I made all of those mistakes from—like, if you look from the outside—kind of like from easy balls.”

“It's another tough final in the Grand Slam against Coco. Another terrible performance from me against Coco in the final. Yeah, I have to just step back and look at this from the perspective, and try to finally learn the lesson, because I cannot go out there every time against her in the finals of the Grand Slam and play such terrible tennis and give those wins—not easily, but like—emotionally, you know?”

Sabalenka was loudly and widely dragged for her less-than-gracious handling of defeat, with the pile-on loudest among Americans, both professional pundits in mainstream media, and scores on social media.

I wrote in my French Open notebook column that all the salt and spice could make the Sabalenka-Gauff rivalry into one of the most flavorful in recent tennis history; others were salivating even more openly.

But well before the Wimbledon draw could start arranging the ingredients for a rematch, the WTA No. 1 and No. 2 preemptively dried out whatever juicy beef might’ve been marinating, making peace by making TikToks together:

Gauff wrote in her caption: “The olive branch was extended and accepted! we’re good so you guys should be too😂🤍"

There was also another video posted by Tennis Channel in which the pair affirmed a friendship.

When first asked at her pre-Wimbledon press conference on Saturday about how she had processed Sabalenka’s much-derided comments, Gauff said that she hadn’t minded Sabalenka’s remarks on court during the trophy ceremony, but was more struck by what Sabalenka had said in the interview room:

“Some of the stuff that was said in the presser, I think I was a bit more surprised about,” Gauff said. “But yeah, I'm not someone to hold a grudge. I was talking to my circle about it. I was like, ‘If she apologizes—not even publicly, it was just more so privately—I will be fine, and we'll move on. She did, and she did again when I saw her before we practiced. Yeah, it was just water under a bridge.

“I know Aryna. I felt like before that, we got along pretty well, anyways, before all that happened, so it wasn't very hard to accept that apology. And, yeah, I understand things weren't, I guess, translated as how she meant it to be. And she understood that, and I understood that's not what she meant.

“…[the TikTok] was just more so to kind of show people that we are on good terms. There's a lot of things that have been said. I'm not someone that, like, supports hate and things like that. So I thought it would be a good idea just so people can really see it and kind of move on, because I think we're both tired of talking about it, to be honest.”

When I’d asked him about Gauff and Sabalenka, Tiafoe expressed some surprise at how quickly things had been smoothed over.

“I mean, it just happened,” he said of their possible rift. “…But yeah, I guess they're cool now, doing dance videos and all that other stuff. So, hey, it is what it is.”

Tiafoe, who had teasingly called Gauff “Little Miss Mature” during the French Open, praised her ability to move past the situation.

“Shoutout, Coco,” Tiafoe began. “Their posts that they did yesterday, [I was] super, super impressed by it.”

When I asked Sabalenka about the firestorm around her after her sore-loser remarks, Sabalenka expressed relief that it had subsided, but also accepted that she had deserved the blowback. Here is our exchange:

Ben Rothenberg, Bounces: I wanted to ask about your practice with Coco and talking with Coco afterward. There was a lot of discussion, especially in U.S. media, about your comments after the French Open final. So I’m just wondering how all that’s been for you: both the attention that's gotten, and then also your personal relationship with Coco and wanting to fix it?

Aryna Sabalenka: Well, we've always been really good with Coco. And honestly, as I said in the statement and a message to her: I didn't really want to offend her. I was just completely, like, upset with myself, and emotions got over me. I just completely lost it.

I wanted to say it in person to her, but I wasn't sure if she's going to come to Berlin, so I had to message her to apologize and make sure she understands that I didn't want to offend.

And of course, she’s got my respect. She knew it; she knows it. And I'm happy that she was, like, ‘Yeah, it's all good, don't worry.’ And yeah, as you saw in the video of us was talking, we are good, we are friends. So I hope the U.S. media can be easy on me right now.

Ben Rothenberg, Bounces: Was it difficult getting that kind of attention after the loss?

Aryna Sabalenka: Well, I mean, I did what I did, and I get what I deserve, I believe. And it was tough time for me. I'm glad I had a book [Into the Magic Shop by James R. Doty] in Mykonos so I could just get distracted by reading [the] book. So, yeah, I got back to reading (laughter). So the lesson is learned, and definitely not going to happen again.

Though impressed by Gauff’s maturity, Tiafoe wasn’t unsympathetic to Sabalenka.

“It was the heat of the moment,” Tiafoe said of Sabalenka. “She was upset, obviously, and kind of just said what she said, not thinking about it. To lose a Grand Slam final, she felt like she didn't play her best—I get it. But at the end of the day, the best person won that day. And I'm super happy for Coco.

“Ultimately, sport is sport, man: you're not gonna [have] your best moments all the time,” Tiafoe continued. “I'm not gonna sit here and say ‘Oh, I can't believe Aryna said that.’ Like, I've said some messed up things in the moment. I'm not gonna sit here and be like ‘I'm a saint.’ I'm not gonna sit here and be like, 'I'm God's gift.' It happens, and I'm happy to see that they turned the page about it. I mean, that's the biggest thing, because they're the best players in the world: those relationships, you kind of need.”

Tiafoe then paused briefly and entertained the alternative with a smile.

“But also, it wouldn't be too bad if they were [going] back-and-forth,” he said, laughing. “You know what I'm saying? That'd kind of be cool if they kind of didn't like each other. I kind of go back and forth with that, too. I mean, Coco took the high road—but it'd kind of be cool if she took the other road, too.”

Tiafoe wasn’t alone there: indeed, many of the comments Gauff received on TikTok expressed a readiness to keep the beef cooking.

I asked Gauff if she had been tempted to clap back at Sabalenka, knowing that she would’ve had a chorus of applause behind her. Here is our exchange:

Ben Rothenberg, Bounces: To ask again about the Sabalenka thing: there was so much talk about it in U.S. media, on sports TV and social media, also.

Coco Gauff: Yeah.

Ben Rothenberg, Bounces: How do you process that volume of attention on that moment? Also, I think quite a lot of people were ready for you to have some sort of clap-back, and you probably had lots of openings where that was possible for you to do.

Coco Gauff: Yeah.

Ben Rothenberg, Bounces: I’m wondering, was that at all tempting? Or how easy was it to take this committed high road, even while there was all this energy behind you and support for you, and people standing up for you or saying things sort of on your behalf against her? What was processing that sheer amount of noise like?

Coco Gauff: Yeah, it was very weird. I mean, at first—like, I'm transparent—at first it was a little tempting, just because the apology did come a little bit later; I thought it was going to come pretty quick.

But after that, I mean, I didn't want to fuel more hate. I'm not the person that will fuel, like, hate in the world. And I think people were taking it too far. It wasn't even [any]more holding someone accountable, it was just really like targeting and saying a lot of things that I felt like were not nice. I didn't want to fuel that more.

…Immediately after, in my press conference, I didn't know what was exactly said. I was going based off what someone was saying in the press conference, so I didn't want to say anything unless I saw exactly what was said, too.

But in general, I'm someone [that] I preach love, I preach light, and I feel like I just practice what I preach. If someone were to say something, I feel like most of the time I'm always going to try my best to take the high road. I can't promise in the future I won't [veer], but I try to, just because that's what I would want someone to look up to. If I'm thinking about my brothers watching me, that's what I would want them to do.

So yeah, for me, there's obviously temptation. I [would] be lying [to say there wasn’t]. But I don't know. I just want us to be kumbaya, live happily, hakuna matata, and yeah, be happy here (laughing).

Thanks for reading Bounces! This was a free post for all, but please subscribe and stay tuned for a fuller notebook column tomorrow on all sorts of topics covered by various players during pre-Wimbledon media days this weekend, which will come out tomorrow for Bounces subscribers-only. -Ben