Coco Gauff and Aryna Sabalenka make amends after heated French Open row, prepare for Wimbledon with a dance-off
While the barbed messages swapped between Coco Gauff and Aryna Sabalenka in the wake of the American's victory over the world number one in the French Open final might have seen battle lines drawn and the start of a testy rivalry, the two WTA superstars didn't take long to bury the hatchet ahead of their respective Wimbledon campaigns this summer. Coco Gauff and Aryna Sabalenka took some time to shoot a video with each other during their pre-Wimbledon preparations.(AP)
The tour number one and number two settled things down in an extremely modern way, making use of their shared training session at the Wimbledon grounds to create a pair of TikToks together, which were later posted to their accounts. This included a dance they performed together, as well a lip-synced video which Gauff captioned: 'The olive branch was extended and accepted!'
Further, Gauff asked her fans to cool off on the war of words that had begun between the fans of both players, writing 'We're good so you guys should be too.' Gauff, Sabalenka put post-match comments in the past
Gauff had beaten Sabalenka in a memorable come-from-behind victory in Paris, outlasting the Belarusian 6-7 6-2 6-4 in a quality final. However, a frustrated Sabalenka was unhappy following her performance in the final, which saw her blast an unprecedented 70 unforced errors.
In her press conference following the final, Sabalenka had said ' [She] won the match not because she played incredible; just because I made all of those mistakes from ... easy balls.' Additionally, she took away from Gauff's win by saying Iga Swiatek, who the Belarusian beat in the semifinal, would have beaten the American: 'I think if Iga would have beaten me, she would go out today and she would get the win.'
Gauff made her displeasure at Sabalenka's comments clear afterwards, stating: 'The way Aryna was playing the last few weeks, she was the favourite to win. So I think she was the best person that I could have played in the final. I think I got the hardest matchup just if you go off stats alone.'
Sabalenka did have the grace to apologise for her comments made in the heat of the moment, which might have helped rebuild that bridge quickly after the brief conflict. She clarified that she had personally reached out to Gauff to clear the air: 'That was just completely unprofessional of me. I let my emotions get the better of me. I absolutely regret what I said back then,' said Sabalenka in a statement. 'We all make mistakes. I'm just a human being who's still learning in life. I think we all have those days when we lose control. The difference with me is the world is watching.'
As the top two seeds, Sabalenka and Gauff are projected to once again only meet in the finals of Wimbledon, should they reach that stage. Gauff's tough draw sees her run into an improving Swiatek in the quarterfinal, while Sabalenka will have a wary eye on a potential rematch against Australian Open 2025 champion Madison Keys in her own quarter.
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