Ahead of their respective Wimbledon campaigns, Aryna Sabalenka and Coco Gauff look to have cleared the air following the Belarusian’s post-Roland Garros comments.
After Gauff defeated Sabalenka to win the French Open, the 27-year-old made several comments that were widely criticised, including a claim that Iga Swiatek would have beaten the American in the final.
She has apologised on several occasions, and the two have since played a practice match on Centre Court at the All England Club.
Before their session, Gauff and Sabalenka made a TikTok video together, in which former Wimbledon champion Marion Bartoli noticed something that she thinks confirms the current state of their relationship.
Marion Bartoli explains why she thinks Aryna Sabalenka and Coco Gauff have made up
Speaking on BBC Radio 5 Live, Bartoli said: “If you look at the TikTok, it’s actually fun.
“Because Sabalenka is coming up with the choreography, and at the beginning, Coco is not in sync, and she is going ‘okay, okay, let me be in sync’.
“If you don’t like the person, you are not going to do that. So I think they do like each other. And for Aryna, she is emotional, but that is what we all love about her.
“Because on the court, you have to love someone for their quality, but also accept sometimes the downside of their qualities, and I think that was the case with those comments.”
Marion Bartoli says she doesn’t think Aryna Sabalenka’s apology was a ‘PR move’
Bartoli continued: “I think for me, when I look at those reactions and don’t get me wrong, as a player, when it comes out of your mouth, sometimes you have a second and think, why did I just say that?
“You have been to a press conference when you are not in the best mood, and when she took the microphone on the court, for three minutes, she could not even speak, she could not say a word because she was in tears.
“So you understand that at that moment, she is not herself, calm and collected. Not everyone can be Jannik Sinner, who just lost a heartbreaking final and came out with the most gracious speech and calm, and you look at him and think: how do you even do it?
“That situation was just too much for her. When I hear comments about it being a PR [her apology]. I don’t think it’s a PR move.
“She knows she messed up. She knows she has hurt Coco’s feelings by saying that, and she did the right thing to do, which is to apologise for her mistake.
“I don’t think anyone around the table can say they have never made a mistake, or that we have all been proud of everything we have been doing.
“You sometimes make a mistake; the best thing you can do is go to that person and say sorry. I’m sorry. At that moment, I was not myself. I let my frustration get the better of me, and it was not very professional or mature, and you move on.
“I don’t think you have to take it in a sarcastic way and call it a PR thing. And I think if Coco felt it was a PR thing, she would not have reacted that way.
Sabalenka and Gauff are seeds one and two at Wimbledon this year, meaning they could meet each other in the final.
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