9th June 2025
This past week saw the conclusion of the French Open, and it was a brilliant finish to the tournament in Paris. Not only did we get a new champion for the women, we also essentially ushered in new eras of the sport, which makes this past week an important one in tennis.
Champions corner
Coco Gauff won her second Grand Slam trophy at this year’s French Open after beating Aryna Sabalenka in three sets. Sabalenka won the opening set, but Coco Gauff remained steadfast in the extremely windy conditions to come out on top.
It’s her second time winning a Grand Slam trophy, officially removing the one-hit wonder tag from her name. For Sabalenka, it’s the second time she faced Gauff in a Grand Slam final and the second time she lost.
On the men’s side, we saw the best possible final as defending champion Carlos Alcaraz faced world number one Jannik Sinner. After an epic battle that might just be the best major final ever, Alcaraz came out on top after five-and-a-half hours of battling.
Sabalenka creates controversy by downplaying Gauff’s win
Sabalenka is generally known as a player who tends to be quite gracious in defeat, often joking and laughing, but the 2025 French Open loss hit her hard. She was pretty frustrated during most of the match due to the windy conditions that caused her to lose the match, but also after the match.
Speaking afterwards, the Belarusian essentially downplayed the impact of Gauff in the American’s triumph, claiming that she lost the match because she made an uncharacteristic amount of unforced errors.
“I think she won the match not because she played incredible; just because I made all of those mistakes… kind of like from easy balls,” she said.
While technically true, it came off as diminishing the achievement of Gauff, with the American as well disagreeing politely when she was asked about those comments. Most tennis fans also reacted negatively, with many voicing their opinion on social media.
Gauff’s tremendous defensive efforts in the match greatly contributed to Sabalenka’s demise, even if she did make many mistakes which hastened her defeat. Either way, fans were disappointed to see her come off as a sore loser.
Djokovic emotion after semi-final defeat
Novak Djokovic did tremendously well to make the 2025 French Open semi-finals, seemingly against all odds. While he had a really good draw and played well, many didn’t really think he had it in him after some shaky results this year.
He didn’t have enough to take down Sinner, who ended up beating him in three sets, and the Serbian was very emotional after that. He got a standing ovation from the crowd and took a moment to take it all in, as well as touching the clay beneath him one final time before leaving the court.
It’s pretty clear that this was one of the last times we’re going to see him at the event because reality is that he just doesn’t have that many participations in him anymore. Perhaps this was the final time he will make such a deep run. Time will tell, but it was a moment that was very touching to see.
Alexander Bublik steals hearts on and off the court
Alexander Bublik had his best Grand Slam run at this year’s French Open, and it was a hugely significant moment for the Kazakhstani player. Not only was he emotional on the court after his wins, but he was also quite funny.
Following his loss to Sinner, he showed off his hilarious side by writing on social media that he “nearly got him”, which objectively wasn’t true because the Italian won easily, but it was a real encapsulation of how Bublik stole hearts at this year’s French Open, on and off the courts.
Coming up this week
As it always tends to be after the French Open, grass season is here. It actually already started because tennis on grass was played last week as well, but it kicks off properly this week with a couple of really strong events on the surface.
We’re switching from red to green, and it’s going to be a pretty sight to see with two ATP 250 events on the schedule. Tennis will be played in Den Bosch in the Netherlands and Stuttgart when it comes to the men’s calendar.
On the women’s side of the sport, we’ll have an event in London at the famous Queen’s Club, which is the first time it’s happening after a 52-year absence. Besides that, the women will be playing in Den Bosch as well, so there will be plenty of action to watch on both sides of the sport.
