How Coco Gauff fought back to beat Aryna Sabalenka and win her first French Open title in the 2025 women’s singles final

If someone was watching this final without a scoreline, and without knowing the rules of tennis, they would have thought Gauff was destroying Sabalenka. But all afternoon, she followed nearly every error with some sort of self-flagellation.

Meanwhile, Gauff stood across the net the essence of cool. She barely ever breathes from her mouth between points. She might let her eyes sag for a moment but that’s it.

And yet, for long, long stretches she was losing. And Sabalenka was winning but looked like she was losing. This has been one of the keys to Sabalenka’s growth.

She needed that to survive a 77 minute first set filled with dips and highs. She needed it when the error bug attacked her in the second set. And she needed it win or lose, to survive the crucible of a third set with Grand Slam on the line.

She just couldn’t grasp it that final time. Instead of finding the calm she has felt in so many tight moments over the past two years as she has become the dominant woman in the world, Sabalenka went the other way and Gauff let her do it.

The American’s calm, steadiness and control, of her strokes and of her mind, were the most important factors in a final whose tennis was on the racket of her opponent.