2025 Roland Garros Women's Final - (1) Aryna Sabalenka v (2) Coco Gauff

Who will take home the Roland Garros title?

  • Total voters
    39
  • Poll closed .
If Sabalenka actually believes the disrespectful things she says, then she's not just rude but also quite stupid in tennis terms, and she doesn't even really understand what happened on court and why she lost which will make it harder for her to do anything about it in the future.

We have always had players like Sabalenka on both the men's and women's sides and sometimes they as well as some fans think the best player is the one who hits the ball the hardest, but that's not how it works of course.
 
AM75 said:
Well you can't really say you played your best tennis and still lost if you made 70 unforced errors...
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You can say you played the best tennis that you were allowed to play on the day. Anything else (barring some freak injury) is either sour grapes, stupidity or both.
 
Sabalenka looked very highly strung from the minute Gauff got back to 4-4 in the first set. It was as if the only way Sab was going to win today was by immediate knockdown. Anything long and tight, she would have trouble battling her nerves.

I suspect she invested a lot into this tournament emotionally, whereas Gauff has learned to take a pretty chilled out approach to her career and take the wins where she can. Gauff's facial expression barely moved an inch until the final point was done.

The way she was wailing her arms about between points, Sabalenka looked like she was thinking about her excuses as early as the start of set 2. I think she's got it into her head (correctly) that this will be the hardest slam for her to win and that this was a massive opportunity. Her composure was awful though. She was tactically all at sea.

As frustrating as Gauff is to follow, she's produced two absolute ice queen performances in grand slam finals. She was sturdy and determined and believed in herself all afternoon. I've got newfound respect for her.
 
So, so happy for Gauff. I stayed out of the match thread for the final because I was too scared to jinx the result.

Crazy times for Aryna..... honestly can't think of a player besides Lendl with less return on investment at majors given she has been the best player in the world for close to 3 years now. o_O
 
intrepidish said:
If Sabalenka actually believes the disrespectful things she says, then she's not just rude but also quite stupid in tennis terms, and she doesn't even really understand what happened on court and why she lost which will make it harder for her to do anything about it in the future.

We have always had players like Sabalenka on both the men's and women's sides and sometimes they as well as some fans think the best player is the one who hits the ball the hardest, but that's not how it works of course.
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Very ungracious of her.
 
Subway Tennis said:
So, so happy for Gauff. I stayed out of the match thread for the final because I was too scared to jinx the result.

Crazy times for Aryna..... honestly can't think of a player besides Lendl with less return on investment at majors given she has been the best player in the world for close to 3 years now. o_O
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Coincidentally, I believe what she really needs is a stoic coach—someone like Ivan Lendl—who could teach her a few essential lessons: to stop whining and screaming, and let her tennis do the talking. Someone who wouldn’t tolerate the drama or indulge the nonsense she’s been putting out there.
 
I think one of the differences between Sabalenka and the other top, top players is that it takes her a long time to get over tough losses and they can affect her very negatively long term. Her comments in the presser today suggest that she still hasn't fully processed the Australian Open loss.

I dont think that AO final loss affected her matchup with Keys because she has beaten her since, but these missed opportunities at majors she doesn't fully process them and they may be having a cumulative negative effect.
 
That match was so good. Gauff did an excellent job getting to every powerful shot of Sabalenka’s and sending it back with some junk on it. Kinda like how Andy Murray used to with Nadal.

On a faster court, sabalenka would probably have won.
 
Sudacafan said:
Coincidentally, I believe what she really needs is a stoic coach—someone like Ivan Lendl—who could teach her a few essential lessons: to stop whining and screaming, and let her tennis do the talking. Someone who wouldn’t tolerate the drama or indulge the nonsense she’s been putting out there.
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Agree 1000%. No more tik tok dances and pretending to be someone you're not. For someone like Andreeva the tik tok approach works because she is very sweet and a fun loving teenager..... but for Sabalenka she needs the opposite approach. Cold blooded killer, and it's time to get serious. And learn to except that crowds are not going to necessarily love you everywhere you go.
 
jarko111 said:
That match was so good. Gauff did an excellent job getting to every powerful shot of Sabalenka’s and sending it back with some junk on it. Kinda like how Andy Murray used to with Nadal.

On a faster court, sabalenka would probably have won.
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Sabs very nearly pulled off the break in that last game. From there the match could have gone anywhere!
 
roysid said:
That's the problem. Very nearly
Shank a return of the second serve at break point
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Sabs went so aggressive in that last game. So hard to pull off such aggressive shotmaking in those s$&@ conditions. I like Coco Gauff much more than Sabalenka so I'm happy she won but Sabalenka is an animal. She just wants to keep fighting forever. It's impressive. She might have figured out a way to take that match if she had broken in that last game maybe.
 
Subway Tennis said:
Sabs went so aggressive in that last game. So hard to pull off such aggressive shotmaking in those s$&@ conditions. I like Coco Gauff much more than Sabalenka so I'm happy she won but Sabalenka is an animal. She just wants to keep fighting forever. It's impressive. She might have figured out a way to take that match if she had broken in that last game maybe.
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Yes. She wasn't going to win by just rallying around. Shud have broken there but missed an easy return
 
roysid said:
Yes. She wasn't going to win by just rallying around. Shud have broken there but missed an easy return
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Yes, she had to stay aggressive. She can't match Gauff for shot tolerance.

Her last two majors finals she has been outplayed in 2 separate ways: At AO Keys hit her off the court, and in Paris Gauff was too tough defensively and Sabalenka couldn't hit through her without her game breaking down in the nightmarishly tough conditions.
 
insideguy said:
Aussie does this constantly with Coco. Oh she won but she had and easy draw. Or congrats to Coco but........ it's the same old crap with Aussie. Passive Aggressive nonsense.
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Sure Jan.

Sorry the facts hurt, Coco served 8 double faults but had an opponent that hit 70 unforced errors. That sure helped her. No? In the SF Coco was lucky and faced a player ranked outside the top 350 while Sabalenka played the 3x defending champ. No? Do the stats lie? Did I tell a mistruth?

Do you want me to talk about the Keys QF? Coco hit TEN yes 10 double faults but had an opponent who hit 60 unforced errors. Winning a match where you had just 15 winners yet 10 double faults and 41 unforced errors? Yikes.

Kudos for her for not being the worse player in both those matches. Keys and Sabalenka were.
 
I'm not going to pretend that this final is an all-time classic, but I still enjoyed it, thanks to the tension and drama.

I also think in matches like this, with such high stakes, the clay surface, the conditions etc. that unforced error counts don’t paint a full picture at all.

Gauff athleticism, defensive skills, ability to force Sabalenka to shots the she didn’t want to hit, and draw errors from her was very impressive. It was also great that she wasn’t downhearted after losing the 1st set, and actually took encouragement from it.

Sabalenka’s inability to capitalise when numerous Gauff forehands landed short was notable. Plus I thought she’d have learned the lessons from the 2023 USO final, during which she clearly let the pro-Gauff crowd get to her. But many of the same struggles she had that day were on display here.

Sabalenka is still automatically the pre-tournament favourite for any non-clay slam IMO, including Wimbledon in a few weeks. For starters, she’s far more likely than any other high ranked player / contender to avoid an earlier round upset and reach the semi-final stage, which counts for a lot. I think it’s inevitable at this stage that she’ll win more slams.

Gauff being a two time grand slam (plus YEC) champion at the age of 21 is hugely impressive. It was also nice that after losing in the Madrid and Rome finals, she was able to win the one that really mattered.
 
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Aussie Darcy said:
Sure Jan.

Sorry the facts hurt, Coco served 8 double faults but had an opponent that hit 70 unforced errors. That sure helped her. No? In the SF Coco was lucky and faced a player ranked outside the top 350 while Sabalenka played the 3x defending champ. No? Do the stats lie? Did I tell a mistruth?

Do you want me to talk about the Keys QF? Coco hit TEN yes 10 double faults but had an opponent who hit 60 unforced errors. Winning a match where you had just 15 winners yet 10 double faults and 41 unforced errors? Yikes.

Kudos for her for not being the worse player in both those matches. Keys and Sabalenka were.
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You predicted Sabalenka would win in 2 and discounted Coco at every turn.

It's very clear who is hurt by the facts here and needs to tell stories to deal with that.
 
intrepidish said:
You predicted Sabalenka would win in 2 and discounted Coco at every turn.

It's very clear who is hurt by the facts here and needs to tell stories to deal with that.
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Noticing you didn't address all the stats I said. Funny. Next time address them maybe? :)

Also, I couldn't care less about my poll vote and now actually wish Gauff won in straights because she played well, not winning because Sabalenka gave SEVENTY unforced errors

70 unforced errors? My god.
 
Aussie Darcy said:
Noticing you didn't address all the stats I said. Funny. Next time address them maybe? :)

Also, I couldn't care less about my poll vote and now actually wish Gauff won in straights because she played well, not winning because Sabalenka gave SEVENTY unforced errors

70 unforced errors? My god.
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You've been addressed repeatedly but refuse to even try to understand.

Great defenders are the cause of high unforced error counts, as are tougher conditions.

If Sabalenka were playing anyone else, she would have 'magically' handled the conditions and pressure much better.

Gee, I wonder why that is?

Your sour grapes keep you from even remotely understanding what happens and it's crystal clear.
 
intrepidish said:
You've been addressed repeatedly but refuse to even try to understand.

Great defenders are the cause of high unforced error counts, as are tougher conditions.

If Sabalenka were playing anyone else, she would have 'magically' handled the conditions and pressure much better.

Gee, I wonder why that is?

Your sour grapes keep you from even remotely understanding what happens and it's crystal clear.
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Gauff's defending is what caused Sabalenka to choke the way she did from 4-1 40-15 up?

Ok, guess that's where we disagree.

Sabalenka was playing lights out and then started choking from what I saw, not cause of Gauff defending but because of Sabalenka just absolutely blowing it with her weak brain in big matches.

This was then proven to me when Gauff herself started choking with the double faults and unforced errors and somehow actually LOST that first set despite getting back the breaks thanks to Sabs implosion. Gauff was not overly good at all in that final. Sabalenka was just worse. Gauff didn't play amazing, her error count was also poor, but just like the QF against Keys, she had an opponent who hit far more than her.

Gauff hit 7 or was it 8 double faults in that match? Multiple were on break points too. And was it 30 unforced errors too? Just lucky Sabalenka hit well over double that with 70 lol.
 
Aussie Darcy said:
Gauff's defending is what caused Sabalenka to play the way she choked from 4-1 40-15 up?

Ok, guess that's where we disagree.

Sabalenka was playing lights out and then started choking from what I saw, not cause of Gauff but because of Sabalenka just absolutely blowing it with her weak brain in big matches. This was then proven to me when Gauff herself started choking herself with the double faults and unforced errors and somehow LOST that first set. Gauff was not good at all in that final. Sabalenka was just worse. Gauff didn't play amazing, her error count was also very poor, but just like the QF against Keys, she had an opponent who hit far more than her.
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If Gauff weren't there, Sabalenka would not have had the same problem closing it out. Knowing that Gauff can track down most of her shots is constant pressure.

In your fairy tale, it's as if being the best defensive player in the world has nothing to do with anything...and on clay no less.

It's sad that someone who has been around tennis can't grasp this regardless of personal preferences.
 
intrepidish said:
If Gauff weren't there, Sabalenka would not have had the same problem closing it out. Knowing that Gauff can track down most of her shots is constant pressure.

In your fairy tale, it's as if being the best defensive player in the world has nothing to do with anything...and on clay no less.

It's sad that someone who has been around tennis can't grasp this regardless of personal preferences.
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I love that you think it's about personal preference. I like Gauff and I like Sabalenka. It was #1 v #2, the result is good for womens tennis which is all i've ever cared about. People here have labelled me a Gauff hater which makes me laugh since she's a sweetheart and kind.

I just wish Gauff won that match on her merit (and i'm sorry but it's my opinion, I feel she won because Sabalenka hit what I think might be the most unforced errors in a womens slam final?). As i've said and continue to say, for me, it feels Sabalenka blew that match more than Gauff won that match. If you disagree, ok.

The result is still the same, Gauff is the champ and will be remembered for it for history while we won't discuss Sabs performance in 5 years time. In the same way I can mention Halep winning here in 2018 against Sloane where she was down and out by a set and break but Sloane completely choked and Halep won.

I'm not a fan of those matches when a player wins because someone chokes.

The fact the QF was also just so awful impacted my commentary because Gauff/Keys played one of the worst matches i've seen in over a decade and neithet deserved to be in the SF. And then she faced a French WC while Sabs had to play Iga? Brutal.
 
Aussie Darcy said:
I love that you think it's about personal preference. I like Gauff and I like Sabalenka. The result is good for womens tennis. I just wish Gauff won that match on her merit and not because Sabalenka hit what I think might be the most unforced errors in a womens slam final? As i've said and continue to say, for me, it feels Sabalenka blew that match more than Gauff won that match. If you disagree, ok.

The result is still the same, Gauff is the champ and will be remembered for it for history while we won't discuss Sabs performance in 5 years time. In the same way I can mention Halep winning here in 2018 against Sloane where she was down and out by a set and break but Sloane completely choked and Halep won.

I'm not a fan of those matches when a player wins because someone chokes.

The fact the QF was also just so awful also impacted my commentary because Gauff/Keys played one of the worst matches i've seen in over a decade.
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Once again, it's not random choking. It's the best defensive player in the world applying pressure and making things difficult. Put a different player in there and Sabalenka doesn't have the same problems. If you can't see this, you simply don't understand what is going on.

And as for your preferences, we had a conversation before RG about favorites where I mentioned Gauff was a very strong contender for the title and you blew it off entirely, focussing instead on Andreeva.

You have made nothing but sour comments about Gauff and frankly for all your supposed championing of women's tennis, you're crapping on it worse than many of the neanderthals here.
 
intrepidish said:
If Gauff weren't there, Sabalenka would not have had the same problem closing it out. Knowing that Gauff can track down most of her shots is constant pressure.

In your fairy tale, it's as if being the best defensive player in the world has nothing to do with anything...and on clay no less.

It's sad that someone who has been around tennis can't grasp this regardless of personal preferences.
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You actually make a good point but not the way you might think.

If Gauff weren't there, Sabs wouldn't have had a problem. Not because of Gauff putting pressure on though, but because she has a mental issue and choking against Gauff in big matches especially after their last slam final.

That's why Sabalenka said if it was Iga in the final, she would've beaten Gauff which I do believe.

H2H is a thing for a reason.

Swiatek crushes Gauff at RG. 2 wins including the 2023 final.
Gauff crushed Sabalenka in their last slam final. Clearly was in her head.

Had it been Swiatek v Gauff in that final, a rematch of 2023, it would've gone Iga's way.
 
Aussie Darcy said:
Sure Jan.

Sorry the facts hurt, Coco served 8 double faults but had an opponent that hit 70 unforced errors. That sure helped her. No? In the SF Coco was lucky and faced a player ranked outside the top 350 while Sabalenka played the 3x defending champ. No? Do the stats lie? Did I tell a mistruth?

Do you want me to talk about the Keys QF? Coco hit TEN yes 10 double faults but had an opponent who hit 60 unforced errors. Winning a match where you had just 15 winners yet 10 double faults and 41 unforced errors? Yikes.

Kudos for her for not being the worse player in both those matches. Keys and Sabalenka were.
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If anyone else wrote this AD would be doing the typical "you just hate women...disgusting etc"
Nobody does that better than AD.
 
Aussie Darcy said:
You actually make a good point but not the way you might think.

If Gauff weren't there, Sabs wouldn't have had a problem. Not because of Gauff putting pressure on though, but because she has a mental issue and choking against Gauff in big matches especially after their last slam final.

That's why Sabalenka said if it was Iga in the final, she would've beaten Gauff which I do believe.

H2H is a thing for a reason.

Swiatek crushes Gauff at RG. 2 wins including the 2023 final.
Gauff crushed Sabalenka in their last slam final. Clearly was in her head.

Had it been Swiatek v Gauff in that final, a rematch of 2023, it would've gone Iga's way.
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Your analysis is reduced to animal spirits and emotion.

It's very simple and until you and Sabalenka (which is worse) understand, you'll continue to make bad predictions and fail to see.

Defense, especially on clay, wins matches by shrinking the court and inducing pressure.

You're like all the clowns who for years couldn't understand why Nadal was winning and thought Federer just choked against him. There are countless other examples.

As for Iga, she was mauled by Coco the last time they played and has been a shadow of herself.
 
intrepidish said:
Once again, it's not random choking. It's the best defensive player in the world applying pressure and making things difficult. Put a different player in there and Sabalenka doesn't have the same problems. If you can't see this, you simply don't understand what is going on.

And as for your preferences, we had a conversation before RG about favorites where I mentioned Gauff was a very strong contender for the title and you blew it off entirely, focussing instead on Andreeva.

You have made nothing but sour comments about Gauff and frankly for all your supposed championing of women's tennis, you're crapping on it worse than many of the neanderthals here.
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Fine, I won't give my opinions on the match anymore. I hate for someone to say I don't champion women's tennis so i'll tap out now from this commentary.

If 8 double faults, 30 unforced errors and that performance is what you want from slam finals then ok. Especially after double digit double faults and 40+ unforced errors in the QF against Keys. You enjoy and hype that.

(y)
 
Aussie Darcy said:
Fine, I won't give my opinions on the match anymore. I hate for someone to say I don't champion women's tennis so i'll tap out now from this commentary.

If 8 double faults, 30 unforced errors and that performance is what you want from slam finals then ok. Especially after double digit double faults and 40+ unforced errors in the QF against Keys. You enjoy and hype that. Already seen the comments about the final and how low quality it was.

(y)
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It's not about what I want in some ideal world but rather appreciating what was actually done in a clay slam final in tough conditions with a great mostly offensive player facing off against a great mostly defensive player.

I'd expect something a bit like what we saw and I'd know that it had a lot to do with what Gauff can do to offensive players.

That's why, especially with Iga at her lowest point in years, I knew Gauff would have plenty of chances against anyone.
 
If women keep making 70 unforced errors per match, I’ll have to stop supporting women’s tennis, and I’m afraid I might end up being obliged to make classless, misogynistic jokes. I really hope it never comes to that.
 
intrepidish said:
It's not about what I want in some ideal world but rather appreciating what was actually done in a clay slam final in tough conditions with a great mostly offensive player facing off against a great mostly defensive player.

I'd expect something a bit like what we saw and I'd know that it had a lot to do with what Gauff can do to offensive players.

That's why, especially with Iga at her lowest point in years, I knew Gauff would have plenty of chances against anyone.
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The match was only concerned “low quality” because the “right” player didn’t win. Gauff was’nt supposed to win because we don’t like her “game”. But we wanted Sabs brainless screaming ball bashing to win because her “game” is so much more suitable for us.
 
Aussie Darcy said:
Fine, I won't give my opinions on the match anymore. I hate for someone to say I don't champion women's tennis so i'll tap out now from this commentary.

If 8 double faults, 30 unforced errors and that performance is what you want from slam finals then ok. Especially after double digit double faults and 40+ unforced errors in the QF against Keys. You enjoy and hype that.

(y)
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If you won, the stats don't matter.
 
TennisXpert@2023 said:
The match was only concerned “low quality” because the “right” player didn’t win. Gauff was’nt supposed to win because we don’t like her “game”. But we wanted Sabs brainless screaming ball bashing to win because her “game” is so much more suitable for us.
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The match was considered low quality, because 100 unforced errors had been hit in it.

If you like tennis, it made your eyes bleed.
 
TennisXpert@2023 said:
The match was only concerned “low quality” because the “right” player didn’t win. Gauff was’nt supposed to win because we don’t like her “game”. But we wanted Sabs brainless screaming ball bashing to win because her “game” is so much more suitable for us.
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I wish Gauff won because she played a great match and didn't rely on her opponent to hit 70 unforced errors. Is it really that hard to understand?

8 double faults and 30 unforced errors to win a match vs an opponent hitting 6 double faults and 70 unforced errors in a SLAM FINAL doesn't scream the two best players on the women's tour now does it?
 
Bill Lobsalot said:
If you won, the stats don't matter.
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True, but the voices in the tennis world are growing louder to separate the womens tournaments from the mens and have the ladies fight for themselves for prize money and these kind of finals don't help if the sport is to continue on.

Sabalenka played like trash but at least her controversial comments will get people to tune in for Wimbledon because the WTA is not attracting viewers. Mauresmo didn't put a single woman's match in prime time. So many people want the women to be paid less at the slams already and we need good matches to bring people in, and that final? That was not fun to watch. And it wasn't good tennis.
 
TennisXpert@2023 said:
Nah, Sabs got exposed as brainless ballbasher who some wanted to use that ballbashing to gain victory because Gauff’s “game” is so unsuitable.
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Nah, combined 100 unforced errors in a 3 set slam final is just heinous.

Sabs was woeful but Gauff wasn't brilliant either.

Nobody wants that and that's not how you build women's tennis up.
 
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