Coco Gauff says criticism of Aryna Sabalenka's French Open comments went 'too far'
LONDON: It didn't take long for Coco Gauff and Aryna Sabalenka to patch up their relationship after this month's French Open final.
Now as Wimbledon is about to start, Gauff is hoping everyone else can also forget what the top-ranked Sabalenka said in the wake of her loss to the American at Roland-Garros.
A day after dancing together on Wimbledon's Centre Court in a TikTok video, the two tennis players faced more questions on Saturday about the aftermath of Sabalenka's comments right after the final, when she said her loss had more to do with her own mistakes than Gauff's performance.
The Belarusian later wrote to apologize to Gauff and said her comments were "unprofessional," but not before she faced some major backlash from fans and pundits — especially in the United States.
Gauff is trying to make sure the criticism stops.
"I'm not the person that will fuel hate in the world," said Gauff, who opens her Wimbledon campaign against Dayana Yastremska on Tuesday. "I think people were taking it too far. … It was just really targeting and saying a lot of things that I felt were not nice. I didn't want to fuel that more."
Sabalenka, who faces Carson Branstine on No. 1 Court on Monday, said she hopes the TikTok video shows that all is well between the two.
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Hindustan Times
25 minutes ago
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First Post
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FirstUp: Kailash Mansarovar Yatra resumes and other big news of the day
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STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Today is also the final day for tech company Meta to pay the $220 million fine issued by Nigeria's consumer protection authority. Here is a look at the events: Kailash Mansarovar Yatra begins The Kailash Mansarovar Yatra resumes today after being suspended for five years. A total of 750 people were picked from over 5,500 applicants through a computer-based draw. Held every year from June to September, the yatra is organised by the Ministry of External Affairs. It takes place along two approved routes: the Lipulekh Pass in Uttarakhand and the Nathu La Pass in Sikkim. CNN-News18 Ground Report: Kailash Mansarovar Yatra resumes after 5 years as India-China relations thaw, first batch of Indian pilgrims reach Tibet @siddhantvm explains the significance of holy yatra as he undertakes the journey himself!@Sonal_MK @toyasingh |… — News18 (@CNNnews18) June 27, 2025 The journey takes around 23 to 25 days and includes a tough 45-km stretch on foot. 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STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Last day for Meta to pay $220 million fine in Nigeria Today is the final date for tech firm Meta Platforms Inc., which owns Facebook and WhatsApp, to pay a $220 million fine set by Nigeria's consumer watchdog. The fine was issued in 2023 by the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC) after it found repeated breaches of data rules, as uncovered in a joint review with the Nigeria Data Protection Commission. Meta has said it does not accept the ruling. Reuters/File Photo As reported by Barron's, Meta has said it does not accept the ruling and disagrees with both the findings and the fine. Despite raising objections, Meta has been told to comply with the decision and settle the amount by the end of today, according to reports in local media. Tej Pratap Yadav to start 'Janata Darbar' With the Bihar Assembly Elections ahead, RJD leader Lalu Prasad's son Tej Pratap Yadav will launch 'Janata Darbar' today. It aims to offer people a direct chance to raise concerns and seek help. 'Janata Darbar, direct solution to public problems. Let's create a new chapter of Bihar together. Always with you, always with Bihar. From Monday, June 30, Janata Darbar will be held from 6 to 8 p.m. at my residence, 26 M Strand Road,' Tej Pratap wrote. Last month, Tej Pratap was removed from the party for six years following controversy over a social media post that was later taken down. The post, shared on Facebook, went viral and claimed that Tej Pratap had been in a long-term relationship with a woman named Anushka Yadav. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD With inputs from agencies
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First Post
an hour ago
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Fans criticize Beyoncé for shirt calling Native Americans 'the enemies of peace'
The T-shirt worn during a concert in Paris featured images of the Buffalo Soldiers, who belonged to Black U.S. Army units active during the late 1800s and early 1900s read more A T-shirt worn by Beyoncé during a Juneteenth performance on her 'Cowboy Carter' tour has sparked a discussion over how Americans frame their history and caused a wave of criticism for the Houston-born superstar. The T-shirt worn during a concert in Paris featured images of the Buffalo Soldiers, who belonged to Black U.S. Army units active during the late 1800s and early 1900s. On the back was a lengthy description of the soldiers that included 'their antagonists were the enemies of peace, order and settlement: warring Indians, bandits, cattle thieves, murderous gunmen, bootleggers, trespassers, and Mexican revolutionaries.' STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Images of the shirt and videos of the performance are also featured on Beyoncé's website. As she prepares to return to the U.S. for performances in her hometown this weekend, fans and Indigenous influencers took to social media to criticize Beyoncé for wearing a shirt that frames Native Americans and Mexican revolutionaries as anything but the victims of American imperialism and for promoting anti-Indigenous language. A spokesperson for Beyoncé did not respond to a request for comment. Who were the Buffalo Soldiers? The Buffalo Soldiers served in six military units created after the Civil War in 1866. They were comprised of formerly enslaved men, freemen, and Black Civil War soldiers and fought in hundreds of conflicts — including in the Spanish-American War, World War I, and World War II — until they were disbanded in 1951. As the quote on Beyoncé's shirt notes, they also fought numerous battles against Indigenous peoples as part of the U.S. Army's campaign of violence and land theft during the country's westward expansion. Some historians say the moniker 'Buffalo Soldiers' was bestowed by the tribes who admired the bravery and tenacity of the fighters, but that might be more legend than fact. 'At the end of the day, we really don't have that kind of information,' said Cale Carter, director of exhibitions at the Buffalo Soldiers National Museum in Houston. Carter and other museum staff said that, only in the past few years, the museum made broader efforts to include more of the complexities of the battles the Buffalo Soldiers fought against Native Americans and Mexican revolutionaries and the role they played in the subjugation of Indigenous peoples. They, much like many other museums across the country, are hoping to add more nuance to the framing of American history and be more respectful of the ways they have caused harm to Indigenous communities. 'We romanticize the Western frontier,' he said. 'The early stories that talked about the Buffalo Soldiers were impacted by a lot of those factors. So you really didn't see a changing in that narrative until recently.' There has often been a lack of diverse voices discussing how the history of the Buffalo Soldiers is framed, said Michelle Tovar, the museum's director of education. The current political climate has put enormous pressure on schools, including those in Texas, to avoid honest discussions about American history, she said. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD 'Right now, in this area, we are getting pushback from a lot of school districts in which we can't go and teach this history,' Tovar said. 'We are a museum where we can at least be a hub, where we can invite the community regardless of what districts say, invite them to learn it and do what we can do the outreach to continue to teach honest history.' Historians scrutinize reclamation motive Beyoncé's recent album 'Act II: Cowboy Carter' has played on a kind of American iconography, which many see as her way of subverting the country music genre's adjacency to whiteness and reclaiming the cowboy aesthetic for Black Americans. Last year, she became the first Black woman ever to top Billboard's country music chart, and 'Cowboy Carter' won her the top prize at the 2025 Grammy Awards, album of the year. 'The Buffalo Soldiers play this major role in the Black ownership of the American West,' said Tad Stoermer, a historian and professor at Johns Hopkins University. 'In my view, (Beyoncé is) well aware of the role that these images play. This is the 'Cowboy Carter' tour for crying out loud. The entire tour, the entire album, the entire piece is situated in this layered narrative.' STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD But Stoermer also points out that the Buffalo Soldiers have been framed in the American story in a way that also plays into the myths of American nationalism. As Beyoncé's use of Buffalo Soldiers imagery implies, Black Americans also use their story to claim agency over their role in the creation of the country, said Alaina E. Roberts, a historian, author and professor at the University of Pittsburgh who studies the intersection of Black and Native American life from the Civil War to present day. 'That's the category in which she thought maybe she was coming into this conversation, but the Buffalo Soldiers are even a step above that because they were literally involved in not just the settlement of the West but of genocide in a sense,' she said. Online backlash builds ahead of Houston shows Several Native influencers, performers, and academics took to social media this week to criticize Beyoncé or decry the shirt's language as anti-Indigenous. 'Do you think Beyoncé will apologize (or acknowledge) the shirt?' an Indigenous news and culture Instagram account with more than 130,000 followers, asked in a post Thursday. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Many of her critics, as well as fans, agree. A flood of social media posts called out the pop star for the historic framing on the shirt. 'The Buffalo Soldiers are an interesting historical moment to look at. But we have to be honest about what they did, especially in their operations against Indigenous Americans and Mexicans,' said Chisom Okorafor, who posts on TikTok under the handle @confirmedsomaya. Okorafor said there is no 'progressive' way to reclaim America's history of empire building in the West, and that Beyoncé's use of Western symbolism sends a problematic message: 'That Black people, too, can engage in American nationalism.' 'Black people, too, can profit from the atrocities of (the) American empire,' she said. 'It is a message that tells you to abandon immigrants, Indigenous people, and people who live outside of the United States. It is a message that tells you not only is it a virtue to have been born in this country, but the longer your line extends in this country, the more virtuous you are.' STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD
