Coco Gauff stunned the world number one Aryna Sabalenka to leave the United States to rejoice in their first French Open champion since Serena Williams in 2015.
It’s been 10 long years to this point. Williams was the last player from the United States to win the clay-court Grand Slam and Gauff will now take the plaudits for this one.
The 21-year-old has become a serial Grand Slam winner after adding to the US Open crown she collected in 2023 by beating the best player in the world.
Sabalenka was clearly hurting after her defeat to Gauff. She took the opening set in a tie-breaker but came up against an opponent who simply refused to lie down.
Andy Roddick shares how Coco Gauff won the French Open
The stars aligned for Gauff to win this tournament, and in truth, she wasn’t troubled too much. Madison Keys took a set off her in the quarters and Sabalenka won the first in the final, but across the fortnight, she was extremely consistent.
Gauff has never doubted her ability, even when times have become tough. She’s a very likeable player on the WTA Tour and lots of neutral tennis fans will have been rooting for the youngster yesterday.
Roddick is a former Grand Slam champion himself after his exploits at the US Open in 2003 and he felt there was one key statistic that helped Gauff claim the famous win on Saturday.
He said on the Served podcast: “Yeah, she’s (Sabalenka) far and away, but the most consistent best player in the world, um, the most bettable entity still.
“With this result, I mean, it takes Coco playing a phenomenal match. Coco is protecting her second service. She won 50% of her second serve points. You tell us that going in against Sabalenka, who just crushes second serve returns, that’s a big number for her.
“That’s a stat that probably won her the match.
“Her ability to defend her second serve against big hitters is probably her Achilles’ heel, but, you know, Sabalenka gained points still.
“I mean, she’s the clear-cut number one in the world, and that’s probably the next thing that, you know, Coco wants to go after.”
Coco Gauff stats vs Aryna Sabalenka
At 21, it’s quite scary to think what Gauff could still achieve playing tennis, with two Grand Slams now to her name after this brilliant victory.
Roddick clearly felt that Gauff coped extremely well on the second serve and that ensured that Sabalenka could do what she normally does so well.
| Coco Gauff stats vs Aryna Sabalenka | Total |
| Aces | 3 |
| Double Faults | 8 |
| Break Points | 9/21 |
| Service Points Won | 58 |
| First Serve | 63% |
This win should give Gauff even more confidence out on the court, and the hope now is that she can really kick on and begin to dominate the sport.
Gauff is closing the gap between her and Sabalenka at the top of the rankings and all eyes now move quickly on to the grass court season, with Wimbledon just around the corner.
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