Aryna Sabalenka vowed to “learn” and said she wanted to give “credit” to Coco Gauff following her comments that came after her French Open final defeat to the American on Saturday.
The World No 1 criticised her own performance, in which she lost from a set up and made 70 unforced errors in difficult, windy conditions, and said “it was the worst final I have ever played”.
Sabalenka continued by suggesting Gauff was fortunate to win, saying the 21-year-old had been lucky when she was “framing” balls and adding that she would have lost to defending champion Iga Swiatek had she made the final.
In a particularly ungracious press conference, which came after Sabalenka lost a second grand slam final in a row, the World No 1 said: “I think she won the match not because she played incredible, just because I made all of those mistakes.”
On Sunday, Sabalenka posted on her Instagram stories: “Yesterday was a tough one. Coco handled the conditions much better than I did and fully deserved the win. She was the better player yesterday, and I want to give her the credit she earned.
“You all know me… I’m always going to be honest and human in how I process these moments. I made over 70 unforced errors, so I can’t pretend it was a great day for me.
“But both things can be true… I didn’t play my best, and Coco stepped up and played with poise and purpose. She earned that title. Respect. Time to rest, learn, and come back stronger.”
Sabalenka, who also suffered a painful defeat to Madison Keys in the Australian Open final in January, said she had no plans to re-watch the final and will be going on holiday to Greece for “tequila, gummy bears and swimming”.
“No, no, I already have a flight booked to Mykonos and alcohol, sugar,” Sabalenka said. “I just need couple of days to completely forget about this crazy world and this crazy – if I could swear, I would swear right now – but this crazy thing that happened today.
“I think everyone understands. I’m just trying to be very polite right now, but you know, there is no other word, that could describe what just happened today on the court. But yeah, tequila, gummy bears, and I don’t know, swimming, being like the tourist for couple of days.”
