Roland-Garros 2025: Coco Gauff overthrows Aryna Sabalenka and wins her first title in Paris

When you're a player, it can be hard to spend two weeks, if not three, commuting between a hotel in the capital and Porte d'Auteuil. Especially when you only hit the ball at Roland-Garros once every two days. Always very talkative in front of journalists, Coco Gauff shared at a press conference on Thursday evening her trick for keeping busy between matches: trying out escape games in Paris. In the first week, the 21-year-old American, second in the WTA rankings, managed to escape a mad doctor who was experimenting on humans. In the second, she remained locked in a subway car, unable to decipher the station map.

This Saturday, June 7, a third challenge presented itself to her, at least as tough as the two previous ones: manage to escape from the Philippe-Chatrier court before nightfall with the Suzanne-Lenglen Cup under her arm, all without being cut down by an Aryna Sabalenka with her super-powerful game who has been walking on water for two years (six finals in nine Grand Slams played). In front of 15,000 spectators, Coco Gauff had a long row to solve the Belarusian enigma. Before finally succeeding after 2 hours 38 minutes of a three-set match (6-7 [5]; 6-2; 6-4) with twists and turns. Less than a year after carrying the flag of the United States on the Seine, the Floridian made the American anthem ring out at Roland-Garros. She now has two Grand Slams to her name.

Although the final began around 3:30 p.m., Coco Gauff didn't get going until half an hour later. She initially struggled severely, overwhelmed by Aryna Sabalenka with a clear game plan: hit hard to push her back, then break up the rally by bringing her to the net with a drop shot, before finishing her off at close range, with a sharp shot or a finesse passing shot. A new variety for this hard-court expert (she won her three Grand Slams on this surface), who was long clumsy in the spring when it came time to step onto clay courts. "I was always told that this surface wasn't for me. I didn't have confidence in the past ," the Belarusian admitted Thursday after her first qualification for the final at Roland-Garros. In recent years, we [her coaches and she, editor's note] have really developed my game. I feel much more comfortable on this surface."

Coco Gauff found the answer to the Sabalenka puzzle when she was two breaks behind and we thought the final was going to be over in less than an hour. The solution? Put everything back into the court, for as long as possible, until her opponent got out of it on her own. The best player in the world then started to shower, almost systematically sending the ball into the net or two meters out when the rally dragged on (32 unforced errors in the first set while she had only made 25 in the entire semi-final against Iga Swiatek ). We saw her get frustrated, get angry at her team, at one of the court cameras, at the wind, at a crying baby - who takes their infant to a Grand Slam final? Then her right arm suddenly settled in a tiebreak where she was in a bad way and Coco Gauff could do nothing (7-5). No one on the tour can resist when Aryna Sabalenka transforms into Mr. Clean.

The transformation didn't last, and the WTA queen returned to her bad habits. Much more focused than her opponent, and more offensive than in the first set, Coco Gauff only had to watch the balls fly and the ball boys chase them to even the score at one set each (6-2). Aryna Sabalenka couldn't do it anymore: she had just lost seven of her last eight service games. The safe had given way.

Although the final set was more balanced, Coco Gauff always seemed to have a head start. Already in the score, since she spent the entire set in front. In her head too, where she appeared much more serene and mature than her opponent, despite being six years her senior, always capable of making the right choices on balls that counted double or triple. The player who kept a stone-faced face for 2 hours and 38 minutes finally collapsed in tears in the middle of the court, after yet another backhand that was too long from Sabalenka (her 70th unforced error of the match, a tournament record). A decade after Serena Williams' last title , the Roland-Garros boss is once again American.

Three years after the humiliation she suffered in the final here (a 6-1, 6-3 defeat to Iga Swiatek), Coco Gauff has her revenge. On Thursday evening, she explained how much this defeat, after a match she played scared to death, had served her well. "I think I realized how important it was to put things into context. There are bigger problems than losing a final. […] I try to remind myself how lucky I am, how privileged I am to be in this position, that it's not the end of the world if I lose. That the sun will rise the next day no matter what. That if I walk around a city like Paris, no one will know who I am and no one will care that I lost." On Sunday, the sun will rise again over Paris. But it's not certain that this time Coco Gauff will be able to walk around incognito.