Aryna Sabalenka revealed that she apologised to Coco Gauff for her "completely unprofessional" comments following her French Open final defeat earlier this month. 

Sabalenka was beaten 7-6 (7-5) 2-6 4-6 in the showpiece match at Roland-Garros as Gauff became the youngest player to win major titles on multiple surfaces. 

But in what was her third consecutive major final, Sabalenka failed to get over the line and seemingly let her frustrations boil over once the match had concluded. 

The world number one suggested that Gauff did not have to play "incredible" tennis to beat her, saying that if defending champion Iga Swiatek, who she beat in the final four, had reached the final, she would have triumphed. 

Sabalenka added that it was the "worst final I ever played". She made 70 unforced errors – the most in any women's singles match at the 2025 edition of Roland-Garros and 40 more than Gauff.

But in the wake of her remarks, Sabalenka said she regretted her comments and was quick to apologise to Gauff. 

"That was just completely unprofessional of me. I let my emotions get the better of me," Sabalenka told Eurosport Germany.

"I'm just a human being who's still learning in life. I think we all have those days when we lose control.

Aryna, you can be so proud of your tournament #RolandGarros pic.twitter.com/ySgwm3uVqT

— Roland-Garros (@rolandgarros) June 7, 2025

"I wrote to Coco afterwards - not immediately, but recently."

"I was super emotional and not very smart at that press conference. It took me a while to revisit it, to approach it with open eyes and to understand.

"I realised a lot about myself. Why did I lose so many finals? I kept getting so emotional. So it was a tough but very instructive lesson for me."

Sabalenka kickstarts her grass-court season at the Berlin Open, where she is the top seed, before turning her attention to the penultimate major of the year at Wimbledon. 

The Belarusian has reached the semi-finals of the competition on two occasions, in 2021 and 2023, losing to Karolina Pliskova and Ons Jabeur respectively.