‘We're good, we're friends': Gauff, Sabalenka dance together at Wimbledon

Al Jazeera

11 hours ago

Just in case anyone might have wondered whether there was any lingering animosity between Coco Gauff and Aryna Sabalenka after their French Open final, the two tennis stars offered proof that all is well by dancing together at Wimbledon and posting videos on social media.
A day after dancing together on the Centre Court, 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 said her comments were 'unprofessional', but not before she faced some major backlash from fans and pundits, especially in the United States.
'TikTok dances always had a way of bringing people together,' Sabalenka wrote on her Instagram feed below a clip of the duo showing off their moves on the Centre Court grass to the strains of the 1990 hit Gonna Make You Sweat (Everybody Dance Now) by C+C Music Factory.
Gauff, a frequent TikTok user, put up a video of the pair standing together and mouthing along to a track with the words: 'OK, guys, we're back. Did you miss us? 'Cause we missed you.'
'The olive branch was extended and accepted! we're good so you guys should be too,' she wrote.
Pretty iconic 😎#Wimbledon | @SabalenkaA | @CocoGauff pic.twitter.com/biHPvsSaBR
— Wimbledon (@Wimbledon) June 27, 2025
'Hakuna Matata and be happy'
Now, with Wimbledon about to start, Gauff is hoping everyone else can also forget what the top-ranked Sabalenka said.
'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 court number one on Monday, said she hopes the TikTok video shows that all is well between the two.
'We are good, we are friends,' the three-time major winner said. 'I hope the US media can be easy on me right now.'
Sabalenka reiterated that she never meant to offend Gauff.
'I was just completely upset with myself, and emotions got over me,' she said. 'I just completely lost it.'
Gauff did acknowledge that she was initially tempted to hit back publicly at Sabalenka, who said the American 'won the match not because she played incredible, just because I made all of those mistakes from … easy balls.'
Gauff also said she was slightly surprised that it took a while for Sabalenka to reach out to apologise. But once that happened, the American was quick to bury any grudge.
'I preach love, I preach light,' Gauff said. 'I just want us to be Kumbaya, live happily, Hakuna Matata ['no worries' in Swahili], and be happy here.'
Other players were also pleased to see the top two women's players getting along again.
'I'm happy to see that they turned the page about it,' said Frances Tiafoe, who is seeded 12th in the Wimbledon men's bracket. 'That's the biggest thing, because they're the best players in the world. So those relationships you kind of need.'
Then the American added with a laugh, 'But also it wouldn't be too bad if they were also back-and-forth. That'd kind of be cool if they kind of didn't like each other.'
Gauff vs Sabalenka head-to-head
Three-time Grand Slam champion's loss to Gauff in Paris followed her loss to the American in the US Open final in 2023, and she trails their head-to-head 6-5.
Asked whether she would relish the chance to avenge the loss by beating Gauff in the Wimbledon final, she sounded unsure.
'I don't know, in this case, maybe I don't want to see Coco if I make it to the finals. But if she's going to be there, I'm happy because I want to get the revenge!'
A jovial Sabalenka was joined for the last minute of her media address by seven-time Wimbledon champion Novak Djokovic, with whom she said she had a long chat this week after hitting with the Serb on the grass.
'Novak is the best. First of all, I was able to hit with him. Then you can chat with him. He will give his honest advice,' she said. 'It's amazing to hear the opinion of such a legend. We were just chatting about stuff that I'm struggling a little bit [with]. I'm really thankful for the advice he gave me.'