Sabalenka Says She Won't Repeat Viral Roland-Garros Coco Comment After Wimbledon Loss

Keen to avoid repeating a past mistake, Aryna Sabalenka struck a diplomatic tone immediately after her three-set defeat to Amanda Anisimova in the Wimbledon semifinals.

"You’re not going to see a Roland-Garros press conference," the No. 1 seed told reporters while arriving for her presser.

Sabalenka garnered some criticism for what many perceived to be the dismissive way she described Coco Gauff's performance in the Roland-Garros women's final in June.

"It was honestly the worst tennis I've played in I don't know how many months," she said at the time. "Conditions were terrible, and she simply was better in these conditions than me. … I think she won the match not because she played incredible, just because I made all of those mistakes from, if you look from the outside, easy balls."

Sabalenka apologized in a subsequent interview with Eurosport Germany (via Charlie Eccleshare of The Athletic) and called her remarks "unprofessional."

On Thursday, the three-time major Grand Slam champion did provide one notable soundbite when discussing a contentious moment in the second set against Anisimova.

Anisimova started to celebrate before a point ended, which clearly didn't sit well with Sabalenka.

She said in her press conference the American "kind of pissed me off."

"But I was grateful and thankful that she said that because I was like, it actually helped me to keep fighting," Sabalenka told reporters. "I was like ok, now I’m gonna show you the tennis. I came back because I got really angry in that moment."

The three-time Wimbledon semifinalist didn't want to create another Roland-Garros moment, but she may once again garner the wrong kind of headlines thanks to her London presser.