Coco Gauff conquers Roland Garros — Quotes from final weekend
By Joey Dillon
The IX: Tennis Tuesday with Joey Dillon, June 10, 2025
Howdy, y’all and Happy Tennis Tuesday! We are officially done with the clay court season and have already moved onto the grass. However, like we always do to wrap up a Grand Slam, we’re going to revisit the last fortnight a la Jon Wertheim’s Parting Shots.
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First, what a tournament for Coco Gauff. In 2022, she left Paris by reaching her maiden Grand Slam final and the toughest loss of her career to Iga Swiatek. The following year, she would find glory at the U.S. Open and it would take nearly two more years to find herself in another final. This time, against Aryna Sabalenka, she weathered an over-two-hour storm from the Belarusian to win in three sets. I admit, I’m curious what this will mean for Gauff and the future. She’s a marketer’s dream and has the all-court game to dominate and reach No. 1, but can she? Wimbledon is the lone major she’s yet to make the quarterfinals at so I think this year could be the turning point for her.
You’ve got to feel for Sabalenka. The World No. 1 ended Swiatek’s 26-match win streak at Roland Garros and finally made a non-hardcourt major final just to narrowly lose. Then her comments after the final saying she lost the final more than Gauff won it made the headlines. Still, she has a 3,500 point over Gauff in the rankings and she didn’t play Wimbledon last year. I wouldn’t be surprised if she stays No. 1 for the rest of the year, but the North American hardcourt swing, where Gauff can also shine, will be the big telling point.
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What a fortnight for Lois Boisson. The Frenchwoman was to make her WTA main draw debut last year at Roland Garros but tore her ACL days prior. Coming back in February, she was finding some of the clay court form she had a year ago, but I don’t think anyone knew what was to come. Fast forward and she’s leaving a Roland Garros semifinalist, the French No. 1 and the biggest Top 100 mover in the WTA rankings this century. She didn’t make the Wimbledon main draw cut in time but perhaps a wildcard by the tournament can be awarded? Very curious to see what unfolds with her new normal.
Sara Errani, who played her final singles tournament at Roland Garros, and Jasmine Paolini finally won their first Grand Slam as a duo. The pair defeated Anna Danilina and Aleksandra Krunic in three sets to overtake the Race to the WTA Finals. They’re perhaps the most consistent pair on tour the last couple of seasons, but with their maiden major behind them, could they turn consistency into dominance? Errani and Andrea Vavassori continued their mixed doubles groove by winning their second Grand Slam together, this time over Taylor Townsend and Evan King.
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Armed with 2010 Roland Garros champion Francesca Schiavone as her coach, Lilli Tagger is one to watch. The young Austrian made history for her country by winning the Girl’s singles title in Paris, just two months after beating Lois Boisson at an ITF World Tour event. Eva Bennemann and Sonja Zhenikhova defeated Alena Kovackova and Jana Kovackova to take the doubles title.
Again, I’d be a fool not to mention the incredible coverage TNT brought in their first year taking over the Roland Garros. From the legends and players at their tournament desk to the actual insight and analysis, I think they’ve set a standard moving forward. I’m already looking forward to their coverage for next year. Tennis Channel and ESPN? Take a lot of notes.
On to links!
This Week in Women’s Tennis
Happy Pride Month to all and what a way to kick things off with a Daria Kasatkina engagement!
The regular WTA tour continued during the second week of Roland Garros with three WTA 125 events — two on grass and one on clay. Greet Minnen , Sara Bejlek and Anca Todoni emerged their tournaments as the singles champions.
The Czechia Billie Jean King Cup team will have a new captain in former player Barbora Strycova.
Barbora Krejcikova shocked the world last year by claiming the Wimbledon title and a year later returns to to a “full circle” moment.
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A tale as old as time — why are there fewer female coaches in women’s tennis? Another tale I’m over? Players receiving hate messages from bettors.
Kudos to the LTA for making sure that equal prize money will be honored at their events by no later than 2029.
Julieta Pareja nearly snagged the USTA Roland Garros wildcard with her surprising run to the Bogota semifinals, but the American caught the eyes of On and has signed to be their newest ambassador.
Tweet of the Week
Five at The IX: Roland Garros Final Weekend
Q. You mentioned having dark thoughts after your 2022 final here. On paper, it looks like you’ve kind of had this perfect career. You’ve won second Grand Slam by 21, but there have been some harder moments. What sort of made those thoughts come up as you were standing there with the trophy today?
COCO GAUFF: Yeah, I just remembered, you know, that ceremony when Iga won, I just remembered trying to take it all in and pay attention to every detail and just feel like I wanted that experience for myself.
So when the anthem got played, I vividly remember watching her, pretty emotional when the Polish anthem got played. I was, like, ‘Wow, this is such a cool moment.’ So when the anthem got played today, I kind of had those reflections.
Yeah, it was a tough time. I was doubting myself, wondering if I would ever be able to [overcome] it, especially my mentality going into that match. I was crying before the match and so nervous, and literally couldn’t breathe and stuff. I was like, ‘If I can’t handle this, how am I going to handle it again?’
Then obviously U.S. Open happened, which credit that reaction, and now I just felt really ready today, and I was like, ‘I’m just going to leave it all out there, and regardless of what happens, I can leave proud.’
Q. Tennis is such a hard sport. Even when you win, you lose almost half the points. Do you think you would like to sort of improve on being kinder to yourself or accepting the lack of perfection, and I guess things along those lines just because in any match you’re going to lose points in games and things like that? How you deal with those things, is that a work in progress for you?
ARYNA SABALENKA: Well, obviously I’ve been doing really well with that in the last, I don’t know, couple of years. It’s just like sometimes, you know, you go to the old habit.
And, yeah, sometimes that happens. I guess you just have to, one more time, step back, learn and go out there and be better, you know?
But right now I don’t see how can I be easy on myself, because honestly, guys, it’s the worst match I’ve played in the last couple of months. It’s just a joke. I cannot do that anymore in the finals.
I wouldn’t care if I would play like that in, I don’t know, fourth round or quarterfinals, but in the final of a Grand Slam, it’s a bit — it’s a bit not right.
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Q. Are you aware of some of the former champions in the girls’ singles here and what they’ve gone on to do? There was four former junior girls champions through to the second week here. Are you aware of that history and how important it is for some players to progress in their careers from here?
LILLI TAGGER: I mean, of course it’s really, really special to win this tournament here, but in the juniors I think from all of us the goal is to come here to play the normal seniors tournament.
So of course, if we come here, it’s an inspiration to watch them play, and we focus of course on our tournament, try to win it, but the goal is to come here. So, yes, it’s a great win. It gives you a lot of inspiration to continue to work, but the goal is to come here.
Q. For you, Sara, you said on court how difficult it is because the tour moves so quickly that you don’t get time to enjoy wins, but what made you say that this one has sunk in a bit already? Why do you think you’re feeling the joy of winning this one so soon as opposed to not the other?
SARA ERRANI: Yeah, it’s like that. I mean, I said before, in tennis you just try to be focused every day. I just won mixed the other day, and I couldn’t be — I was trying not to be too happy, you know, because you have to continue, you have to keep concentrate, and it’s not easy.
Even after Rome, I just come here directly to play the quallies. I mean, you have no stop, so it’s not easy to manage that kind of thing.
But of course, when you realize, you have to be happy, you have to be — understand that this is so big trophy. Of course, I’m so happy and also very tired, but you have to find the balance.
Congratulations on everything you’ve run through there. There’s a lot that goes into this tournament, I know. You were with us just over a week ago, and you did say, Let’s wait until the final Sunday to see how the schedule ends up having gone, depending on what the matches are. We are here now, and it is a fact now that for two years running there have been no women’s matches in the night session. Since we last spoke to you, Coco Gauff, Aryna Sabalenka, Iga Swiatek, Jessica Pegula, Ons Jabeur, and former players Lindsay Davenport and Pam Shriver have all expressed their disappointment with no women’s matches in the night session. Would you accept that they have expressed that disappointment, and really something does need to change in the future?
AMELIE MAURESMO: Well, what I’m thinking, and yes, the other time when we spoke, I always talk about the length of the matches, men compared to women. I always also said that the entertainment is there in both cases. I think we wouldn’t be having this conversation if we would have the same format for both games, because in my opinion it’s the length or the possible length of the match that is making it hard for us in terms of scheduling.
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