Follow us on Google Discover Aryna Sabalenka was not in a good place after falling to defeat against Coco Gauff in the French Open final.
Sabalenka was beaten by Gauff in the French Open final, in what was her second consecutive major final loss after being beaten by Madison Keys at the Australian Open.
However, that did not end up being the main talking point from the match, and instead it was about the comments Sabalenka made about Gauff after the match.
Sabalenka also suggested Iga Swiatek would have beaten Gauff, and there was a huge reaction to these remarks.
Photo by Robert Prange/Getty ImagesJason Stacy reveals what Aryna Sabalenka told him after losing to Coco Gauff at the French Open
Sabalenka received a lot of backlash from both tennis fans and former players, who claimed she was being unsporting.
This appeared to have a huge impact on Sabalenka, who apologised to Gauff in a public statement and they appear to have made up since then.
Over four months since the final took place, Sabalenka’s fitness trainer of six years, Jason Stacy, has given his say on the situation.
Photo by Robert Prange/Getty Images
Stacy also revealed what happened in the aftermath, explaining how embarrassed Sabalenka was about what had happened.
“It was a pretty tough match,” Stacy told Tennis Channel. “It was tough for us to watch too, because we could see what was happening. And a lot of stuff we saw was, not the same level, but it was like that younger Aryna, that had a lot of fire, but with a lot of high performers their biggest strength can also be their biggest weakness if they don’t have control over that.
“For her that fire she has, that emotion, when she has control over it, everyone is in trouble.
But when she loses a little bit of control of that and she gets frustrated or her attention goes in the wrong places it can destroy her.
“We saw a little glimpse of an old Aryna, the only difference was this time the frustration was greater because she was aware of what was happening but she could not stop herself from letting this steamroll out of control.
“The more it happened the more frustrated she got. She was frustrated because she knew it was happening but for whatever reason in that moment [could not stop it]. I believe what happened was that the lead up to that Roland Garros, she had played so many matches. We showed up at Roland Garros and she was sick, she got sick from some virus and was exhausted, so by the time she got to the final she had very minimal resources to manage herself.
“For us that was a big part of going back and going through the things that we practiced so much and developed was how to manage your energy. So a big part of that was we’re going to look at schedule moving forward. But for her that learning curve was that we had a year of very consistent, getting to finals, winning some and losing others. Losing ones usually because of something that she lost control over, rather than maintaining that fire for herself.
“You are who you are, so we work on things and develop them at different times, but these things are cycling through. We are always revisiting these traits we have about ourself. And the idea is that we want to be spiralling upwards, instead of going in a rabbit hole and spiralling downwards, we want to be revisiting these things at a higher level with more experience and better awareness and better tools with what to do about it.
“So the greatest part was right after that match when we were in the locker room or the gym, all she was talking about was how she was taking responsibility for it. How her behaviour was an embarrassment to the team and herself and the next morning she came up with ideas over how that happened and trying to come up with solutions.
“Whereas before we would have to have a talk, drag things out, and it would evolve. But she, on her own, started reading this book, she started asking questions and came to us saying this is what I was thinking, what do you guys think? So she was already much more mature and experienced about it.”
When could Aryna Sabalenka play Coco Gauff again?
Sabalenka has not played Gauff since the French Open final, which was the 11th meeting between the pair.
Both players only have one tournament left this year, but there is a possibility that Sabalenka and Gauff could reunite their rivalry at the WTA Finals in Riyadh.
The WTA Finals begin with a round-robin stage, and due to their respective rankings there is a 50% chance that Sabalenka and Gauff will be drawn into the same group.
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Gauff won the WTA Finals last year, and she will be going for her second consecutive title in the Saudi capital.
There is even a possibility that Gauff and Sabalenka could play twice at the WTA Finals this year, but they would have to be drawn in the same group and both reach the final.