Coco Gauff stresses criticism of Aryna Sabalenka went 'too far' in wake of French Open final - 'I didn't want to fuel more hate'

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Coco Gauff insists that "people were taking it too far" in their criticism of Aryna Sabalenka after the pair’s French Open final three weeks ago. Sabalenka's comments about her opponent in the aftermath of her 6-7(5) 6-2 6-4 loss to Gauff were not viewed in a good light. The world No. 1 has since apologised to the American 21-year-old, and admitted she just "completely lost it".

‘We are friends’ - Sabalenka eager to move on from Gauff incident

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Coco Gauff said that "people were taking it too far" in their criticism of Aryna Sabalenka after the pair’s French Open final.

After losing to Gauff in the Roland-Garros final, Sabalenka was widely considered to have been unflattering about her conqueror.

She claimed the American won "not because she played incredible" but because of Sabalenka’s own misses from "easy balls".

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Sabalenka subsequently released a statement and a written apology to Gauff, while the pair teamed up to perform a TikTok dance together on Centre Court in the lead up to Wimbledon, proving they had buried the hatchet.

Speaking about Sabalenka's comments in a pre-tournament Wimbledon press conference, Gauff said: "Obviously some people were critiquing what she said in the speech.

"I didn't really care about any of that, because I know how it feels. I understand what she was trying to say.

"It was a terrible condition day. I don't think I was playing well either, so I understood where she was coming from with that.

"Obviously, some of the stuff that was said in the press, I think I was a bit more surprised about.

‘Worst final I’ve ever played’ – Sabalenka’s brutal assessment of French Open defeat

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"I'm not someone to hold a grudge. I was talking to my circle about it. I was like, if she apologises, not even publicly but privately, I will be fine and we'll move on.

"She did and she did it again when I saw her before we practiced. It was just water under a bridge. I know Aryna. I felt like before that, we got along pretty well. It wasn't very hard to accept that apology.

"I understand things weren't translated as how she meant them to be. She understood that. I understood that was not what she meant.

"There's a lot of things that have been said. I'm not someone that supports hate. So I thought it would be a good idea [to do a TikTok] just so people can really see it and kind of move on, because I think we're both tired of talking about it."

When asked whether she had been surprised by the volume of attention Sabalenka’s comments had received, Gauff added: "It was very weird.

"I'm transparent. At first it was a little tempting [to respond to Sabalenka] just because the apology did come a little bit later. I thought it was going to come pretty quick.

"But after that I didn't want to fuel more hate. I'm not the person that will fuel hate in the world.

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"I think people were taking it too far. It wasn't even more holding someone accountable. It was just really targeting and saying a lot of things that I felt were not nice. I didn't want to fuel that more."

She concluded: "In general, I preach love, I preach light. I feel like I just practice what I preach.

"If someone were to say something, I feel like most of the time I'm always going to try my best to take the high road.

"There's obviously temptation. I wouldn't be lying, but I just want us to be kumbaya, live happily, hakuna matata, and be happy here."

Sabalenka: Emotions had taken over after French Open defeat

Sabalenka set the record straight in her own press conference, admitting that the "emotions had taken over" in Paris.

"I've always been really good with Coco," Sabalenka said. "I didn't really want to offend her. I was just completely upset with myself, and emotions got over me. I just completely lost it.

"I did what I did. I get what I deserve, I believe. It was a tough time for me. The lesson is learned.

"This time the emotions took over me. In the finals or semi-finals, sometimes I can get over-emotional. I would like to improve that.

"I would like to stay with the same mentality I have during the tournament, because I believe I get over-emotional at the last stages of the tournaments because I have this desire of winning."

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