Emma Raducanu faces Aryna Sabalenka at Wimbledon
Aryna Sabalenka courted controversy on the eve of her Wimbledon campaign and had to issue a grovelling apology to Coco Gauff. The Belarusian made some extremely salty comments after losing to the American in the French Open final.
Sabalenka is gearing up to face Emma Raducanu in the third round at Wimbledon, a place where she has never been beyond the semi-finals. The world No.1 will be in for a frosty reception when she takes to Centre Court. And she’ll have to be careful with her words if she wins and has to address the home crowd.
Sabalenka claimed that she had a tougher run to the final than Gauff at Roland Garros and said that Iga Swiatek, who she beat in the semis, would have stopped Gauff.
When you’ve been playing against a lot of tough opponents, Olympic champion [Qinwen Zheng], Iga and then you go out, and you play really bad,” Sabalenka said immediately after losing to Gauff. Like I think Iga… I think she would go out today and she would get the win.”
The world No.1 came under intense fire for taking a jab at Gauff but did make an effort to reach out and apologise.
That was just completely unprofessional of me,” Sabalenka told Eurosport Germany. “I let my emotions get the better of me. I absolutely regret what I said back then. You know, we all make mistakes. I’m just a human being who’s still learning in life. I think we all have those days when we lose control. But what I also want to say is that I wrote to Coco afterward – not immediately, but recently.”
Gauff was incredibly forgiving and mature in her response, saying: “I understood what she was trying to say. It was a terrible conditioned day. I don’t think I was playing well either, so I understood where she was coming from. Some of the stuff she said in the presser I was a bit more surprised about. I’m not someone to hold a grudge, and when I was talking to my circle about it, I was like ‘If she apologizes, I will be fine and we’ll move on’.
That was just completely unprofessional of me,” Sabalenka told Eurosport Germany. “I let my emotions get the better of me. I absolutely regret what I said back then. You know, we all make mistakes. I’m just a human being who’s still learning in life. I think we all have those days when we lose control. But what I also want to say is that I wrote to Coco afterward – not immediately, but recently.”
Gauff was incredibly forgiving and mature in her response, saying: “I understood what she was trying to say. It was a terrible conditioned day. I don’t think I was playing well either, so I understood where she was coming from. Some of the stuff she said in the presser I was a bit more surprised about. I’m not someone to hold a grudge, and when I was talking to my circle about it, I was like ‘If she apologizes, I will be fine and we’ll move on’.