Roland Garros 2025 had been going so well for world number 1 Aryna Sabalenka. She had come through a tricky draw with good wins over Amanda Anisimova who had a winning head-to-head against her. She had beaten Qinwen Zheng, the Olympic gold medallist here in Paris a year ago and the last player to beat Sabalenka in Rome just a few weeks ago. Then in the semifinals, she had beaten the four-time champion and queen of the clay, Iga Swiatek with a third set bagel, where Swiatek only won 6 points.

Sabalenka had seemed to be reveling in the role of world number 1 and title favourite. She engaged in dance battles with Novak Djokovic, seemed more open in press. All she needed was that 4th grand slam title and the first away from the hard courts to cap off a great few months, where she was universally recognised as the best player in the world.

Then Saturday happened.

I doubt Sabalenka will have had a worse 3 or 4 hours in her career. Outplayed and left a screaming mess on the court by Coco Gauff and a swirling wind that together dismantled her game, she then compounded things further by verbal blunders in her emotion-fuelled press conference where she claimed Iga would have beaten Coco and Coco only won because she herself was so bad, not because Coco played incredible tennis. It was pretty much a disastrous few hours.

With so many of my faves injured or at the start of a long road to recovery, Sabalenka has probably been my favourite player to follow this year. Her extrovert personality and self confidence along with not taking herself too seriously really drew me in. And that really struck me in the aftermath of this dramatic final. The whole world seemed to be feteing Coco Gauff for her victory. How she handled the conditions and a powerful opponent and gradually broke her down. Everyone was happy for the poised young woman who has been under constant scrutiny since she burst onto the scene at 15 years of age. It seemed like I was the only one devastated for Aryna Sabalenka! She had been the favourite, she had beaten Gauff a few week ago in Madrid. She was playing the best clay court tennis of her career. She had just beaten the Olympic champion and the 4 times Roland Garros champion. It was her time. But then it wasn’t.

Sabalenka is usually a very good loser. One of my favourite moments of hers was when she lost the Brisbane final to Elena Rybakina in 2024 when Rybakina looked unstoppable and won 6-0, 6-3. Sabalenka thanked Rybakina for giving her those three games and making it look like a fight!

Of course, just a few weeks later she captured her second Australian Open title while Rybakina lost in that longest tie-break ever match to Anna Blinkova.

She has lost finals in 2025 to Madison Keys in Melbourne, Mirra Andreeva in Indian Wells and Jelena Ostapenko in Stuttgart but I don’t think I have ever seen her as upset on the court as this. Yes, it was a savage swirling wind and the decision to leave the roof open probably sealed Sabalenka’s fate. Gauff said in press both had practiced under the roof and the decision to open it had only been made about 20 minutes before the match. It was a wild and windy day, but it wasn’t actually raining – the downpour came an hour or so after the final. Too late for Sabalenka! This is an outdoor tournament and playing the conditions are part of any outdoor tournament. But Sabalenka plays high risk power tennis, going for lines and putting winners past her opponents. In this final she struggled with that, but more importantly probably the best defensive player on the tour.

Coco Gauff is the best at winning horrible matches! When conditions get tough, when the tennis is bad, Coco finds a way. It is one of her superpowers! I still remember with horror that match she played against Marta Kostyuk in Melbourne in 2024. Boiling hot, absolutely horrible tennis from both. The quarter final here against Madison Keys ran it close. Just awful errors everywhere from both – but crucially as the match went on, Gauff’s errors dissipated while Madison Keys – a power player like Sabalenka – just kept on hitting and missing. Gauff is so fast around the court and these power players just cannot get the ball past her. They go for bigger shots… and miss! It is no accident that Madison Keys hit 60 unforced errors in the match against Gauff while Sabalenka hit 70. Gauff forces them into it. Madison Keys didn’t have the wind to blame as their match was under the roof. As others struggle, Gauff seems to get stronger and more determined. The quality of her tennis increases and it did in this final. I do also think Sabalenka was desperate to win this. She had already lost a slam final this year and lost her previous slam final with Gauff. She was expected to win, and I do think that added to her stress.

I admire Coco Gauff a lot. She always says the right thing – amazing for someone who is 21 years old, but to be honest, she’s been like that since she was 15. And hers was definitely the calmer, more mature head on this finals day, both on the court and in press when reporters tried to bait her with Sabalenka’s emotional rants and even with pointed questions about US politics. I don’t think I’ve ever seen her put a foot wrong in these types of situations.

But the fact remains, I was really rooting for Aryna and am not a huge fan of the Coco Gauff game. I like an aggressive, go-for-it player. I think the last few points of this match really highlight why Coco won but how Aryna managed to push it close but ultimately lose in the end. On Gauff’s first match point, Sabalenka hit a huge high risk winner literally onto the baseline to save it. She managed to scramble her way to break-back point to get it to 5-5 but made more errors. Then on the final shot of the match, went for another big winner and missed wide. Coco played with poise and composure. Aryna was many things in this match but poised and composed were not that!

Interesingly, both world number 1s in the men’s and women’s tournament lost to the world number 2s. Despite being statistically the best players… Tennis is all about the match up on the day. (And by the way, absolutely epic mens final. I don’t write about mens tennis here but if I did…. wow!)

As a newly minted Sabalenka fan, I am hoping she will drink her tequila, eat her gummi bears and enjoy the beach in Mykonos. Hopefully while her team keep her away from any tennis media where she is being ripped to shreds. If there is one thing people hate, it is a sore loser. And also, to dis the angel Coco Gauff?! And besides, look at the noise she makes. Oh, and isn’t she from Belarus who are on Russia’s side in the war? The pile on is nasty and uncalled for. Yes, Aryna said some pretty graceless things when she was upset and emotional. Things she should have saved for her team, not the world’s media – who are largely American. But even so, it wasn’t a good look from Aryna.

Sabalenka did dial it back a bit with a statement on Instagram the next day so hopefully that will be the end of it.

A few other Roland Garros takeaways. I think Iga Swiatek is back. At least I did until that strange third set capitulation to Sabalenka. Swiatek had been in danger against Elena Rybakina in the 4th round when Rybakina started like a rocket and reminded people that she was talked of as one of the very top players just a year ago. However the way Iga problem-solved her way back into the match and won it was encouraging. As were the first 2 sets against Sabalenka. Hopefully she can now start afresh. She has no titles to defend, Roland Garros 2024 being the last one she had. Iga is now at number 7 in the word ranking – which just seems wrong. Grass is not a natural surface for her, but I hope she can play with a bit of freedom now as she has looked a nervous wreck for much of 2025.

Probably the story of the tournament was French wild card Loïs Boisson making it all the way to the semifinals! With just one win on the WTA tour this year over perpetually-catty Harriet Dart, who infamously advised her to wear deodorant midmatch! Well who’s the smelly one now Harriet!

For me, the match of the tournament (only semi-joking) was the third-round match between Loïs Boisson and Elsa Jacquemot. I was planning to watch Jack Draper play João Fonseca but somehow got drawn into a terrific final set between these two French players I had literally never seen before. Boisson’s game is one part Sam Stosur with the slices and forehand heavy game, added to the coolness of Elena Rybakina and the shoulders of Maria Sakkari! She beat Jessica Pegula and then Mirra Andreeva in a raucous atmosphere that was definitely a bit much for poor young Mirra. In her 18 years she’s probably not had a crowd against her like that, and she didn’t handle it too well. Boisson had nothing left and not the game to beat Coco Gauff in the semis but what a run! I hope she gets a wild card for Wimbledon.

Not a particularly good Roland Garros for my faves. Petra Kvitova lost in round 1, as did Katerina Siniakova. Barbora Krejcikova had actually not won a match here since taking the title in 2021 so a hard fought first round win over the tricky Tatiana Maria was a bit of a bonus. Barbora has a difficult few weeks as she prepares to defend her (glorious!) Wimbledon title and in all likelihood a huge fall in rankings. Poor Barbora has been blighted by injury and while on the road back, it is a long and winding one. Siniakova also is in a slump and lost her Roland Garros doubles crown when she and Taylor Townsend were beaten in the quarterfinals by Anna Danilina and Aleksandra Krunic. Errani and Paolini took the title and nice for them to have a grand slam title together.

With Wimbledon around the corner, I will be rooting for Barbora Krejcikova to win at least one match, Siniakova to find some form, Petra Kvitova to get a nice draw and a win a match or two and for Aryna Sabalenka to bounce back and take the title. She has a game that should work on grass. But I do worry that this Roland Garros defeat was especially bruising emotionally. I also hope the Wimbledon crowd give her support. Her loud brashness is not terribly British after all! Well, I will be cheering you on Aryna. You’ve won me over with your good humour and honesty. You show your emotions and play with your heart. You are fallible but resilient. Just next time, don’t be a shady loser!