Coco Gauff wins Roland Garros. New order in Paris

Gauff played in the Roland Garros final for the second time, but a lot has changed in her over the past three years. "I had the impression that defeat was the end of the world, but the next day the sun came up again. I was walking around Paris and no one knew I had lost, no one cared. Few people recognized me. I realized that no matter how important a moment in our lives is, in the grand scheme of things it doesn't mean much," she said.

Today, it would be harder for her to walk down the Champs Elysees unnoticed. She is a Grand Slam champion and one of the world's highest-paid tennis players; Amazon advertised the tournament in France with the images of Gauff and Sabalenka. Despite being raised on clay, she was not a favorite in the final. With time, however, she began to break down the wall with patient, methodical tennis.

It was a clash of hot hearts and cool heads, in which the scales gradually began to tip in favor of the one who could keep her nerves in check. Gauff was calm, kept the ball in play, and gave her opponent opportunities to make mistakes. Sabalenka had two of her opponents: Gauff and herself. The second and third sets lasted as long as the first. The Belarusian won six games. Both players' voices broke during the decoration ceremony, when the organizers were already closing the roof before the doubles final.

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- It was my worst final ever. The conditions were awful and the wind was crazy. I tried to figure it out, but it clearly wasn't my day. I felt like someone was standing somewhere up there laughing at me. I'm trying to be nice, but I could swear, because it's hard to explain what happened otherwise - she says. - Świątek would have won that match.

- The conditions were really tough. It wasn't a day for great tennis and I don't know many people who would play a day like that - says the American. - When the American anthem was played, I had a memory in my head of how I felt when I heard the Polish anthem a few years earlier. I wanted to give people in my country something to smile about - she adds. After the match, Gauff was the first to hug director Spike Lee, although she admits she had never met him before.