Coco Gauff Says People Took Aryna Sabalenka Criticism 'Too Far' After Roland-Garros

Coco Gauff spoke out Saturday about the criticism Aryna Sabalenka faced for comments she made following their French Open final earlier this month.

Gauff defeated Sabalenka 6–7 (5-7), 6–2, 6–4, to win her first French Open title and second career Grand Slam singles title, but Sabalenka came under fire when she seemingly dismissed the quality of Gauff's play.

According to the Associated Press (h/t ESPN), Sabalenka suggested to reporters that the result was due to her own mistakes, saying Gauff "won the match not because she played incredible; just because I made all of those mistakes from ... easy balls."

After getting chided by fans and the media, Sabalenka later walked back her comments, noting that she wrote an apology to Gauff before adding:

"That was just completely unprofessional of me. 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 gave Sabalenka some grace while speaking to reporters Saturday, expressing her belief that people were too hard on her, saying: "I'm not the person that will fuel hate in the world. I think people were taking it too far. ... It was just really targeting and saying a lot of things that I felt were not nice. I didn't want to fuel that more."

While Gauff admitted that she initially thought about clapping back after Sabalenka's initial comments, she decided against it when Sabalenka apologized.

On Friday, it appeared as though the hatchet was completely buried between Gauff and Sabalenka, as they trained together on Centre Court at Wimbledon.

They even did a dance together that went viral on TikTok, after which Sabalenka said: "We are good, we are friends. I hope the U.S. media can be easy on me right now."

Although Sabalenka and Gauff have five Grand Slam singles titles between them, both are looking to win Wimbledon for the first time, and they are among the top contenders to do so.

Sabalenka, who is the No. 1 seed in the upcoming Wimbledon tournament, will kick things off against Canada's Carson Branstine on Monday.

The second-seeded Gauff will get her tourney started one day later against Dayana Yastremska of Ukraine.