Coco Gauff vs. Aryna Sabalenka might be the rivalry tennis is waiting for

Coco Gauff vs. Aryna Sabalenka might be the rivalry tennis is waiting for

WIMBLEDON, England — As the year’s third Grand Slam dawns, the No. 1 and No. 2 players in women’s tennis have chosen peace. As is appropriate for 2025, the treaty was sealed with a TikTok dance.

Instead of allowing Wimbledon to begin with lingering tension from the French Open, Aryna Sabalenka and Coco Gauff quashed their beef and posted two TikTok videos over the weekend, one with both on the grounds of the All England Club and this caption: “the olive branch was extended and accepted! we’re good so you guys should be too.” The other is of them dancing on Centre Court and was captioned this way: “TikTok dances always had a way of bringing people together.” They were of such import that Wimbledon’s official social media account endorsed the message.

With that, Gauff, who is trying to become the first woman since Serena Williams in 2015 to win the French Open and Wimbledon in the same year, and Sabalenka, who like Gauff is seeking her first Wimbledon title, gave fans a glance at something women’s tennis has been missing: a modern rivalry.

In this iteration, both players are invested in publicly downplaying any hint of personal ire. The inciting incident happened early this month, when Gauff defeated Sabalenka in the French Open final. The Belarusian drew heavy criticism for her post-match comments, in which she repeatedly lamented the poor weather and largely failed to give her American rival her due.

“I think I was overemotional. I think today I didn’t really handle myself quite well mentally, I would say. So basically that’s it. I was just making unforced errors,” Sabalenka said at Roland Garros. “… I think [Gauff] won the match not because she played incredible — just because I made all of those mistakes.”

Sabalenka later called her comments “unprofessional” and said she eventually wrote to Gauff privately to apologize.

This weekend, the armistice was the talk of the All England Club. Gauff said she found the outsize attention on the controversy “weird,” though she did feel the initial tug of temptation to respond online. “I’m transparent,” she said Saturday. “At first, it was a little tempting just because the apology did come a little bit later. I thought it was going to come pretty quick. But after that, I mean, I didn’t want to fuel more hate. … I think people were taking it too far.” Sabalenka was again apologetic and said, “I [got] what I deserve, I believe.”

Aryna Sabalenka's comments after falling in the French Open final didn't go over well.

Other players, asked about the difficulty of speaking eloquently in front of a large crowd directly after losing one of the biggest matches of their careers, were sympathetic. Frances Tiafoe, ever cheeky in the local parlance and always a truth teller, took a different tack.

“I’m happy to see that they turned the page,” he said. “That’s the biggest thing — because they’re the best players in the world.”

Then he paused. And then he broke into his signature toothy grin.

“But also, it wouldn’t be too bad if they kind of went back and forth,” he said, dissolving into giggles. “It’d kind of be cool if they kind of didn’t like each other. … Coco took the high road. But it’d kind of be cool if they took the other road, too.”

Gauff took the high road, much to Frances Tiafoe's chagrin.

With that, Tiafoe touched on an old truism: Tennis thrives with rivalries. While the men’s game has seamlessly transitioned from the Big Three era to Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner picking apart each other’s souls, the women’s game hasn’t enjoyed a meaty rivalry since Williams and Justine Henin played each other 14 times between 2001 and 2010, with seven of their meetings coming at Grand Slams. But even that felt limp compared with the 80 matches Martina Navratilova and Chris Evert contested — or even the 34 bouts between Pete Sampras and Andre Agassi.

Tennis fans have been starving for an old-fashioned feud.

“Rivalries are the lifeblood of tennis. When you don’t have them, on either side, you feel a little bit lost,” said Pam Shriver, a former pro who’s now an analyst for ESPN. “In recent times in the women’s game, it’s hard to get a rivalry that really gets your attention — like, really gets your attention. But all of a sudden, because they’ve played in two major finals in the last two years, here come Aryna and Coco to excite us all.”

Sabalenka cools off during a practice session. (Henry Nicholls/Agence France-Presse/Getty Images)

Sabalenka and Gauff’s French Open controversy lingered in part because of the racial subtext — many Gauff supporters pointed out how harsh the backlash would have been had she been the one to make such ungracious comments — but mostly because they are the biggest stars on the women’s tour. Gauff was the highest-paid female athlete in 2024, according to Sportico, and she brought in $21 million in endorsements alone.

The rivalry is in its infancy at best. They have met 11 times, with Gauff owning a 6-5 edge, but three of their past six meetings have come in Grand Slam finals or semifinals.

But their tennis is top rate. And the disparity in their demeanors — a commonality in several of tennis’s great rivalries — makes them a particularly compelling matchup.

“If this Coco-Aryna rivalry really sticks, I think it’ll be a beauty,” longtime tennis analyst Mary Carillo said. “… When they’re both playing at their best, matches get decided by hairline cracks in their game, and that’s also why Aryna gets so upset — because she truly believes any match she plays is in her hands. Coco is smart enough to understand there’s someone 80 feet away from her who has a hand in that as well.”

Beyond Gauff’s opinion that the criticism directed at Sabalenka was becoming toxic, there’s a strong argument that it served both players to clear the air. Both have brands to manage and a tournament to focus on winning. Minimizing distraction is key as both prepare for their first-round matchups: Sabalenka vs. Carson Branstine on Monday and Gauff vs. Dayana Yastremska on Tuesday.

But that doesn’t mean their rivalry is dead on arrival. Shriver interviewed both women after their practice together Friday and saw their competitiveness firsthand.

“All they’ve done is tried to diffuse the aggression,” Shriver said. “But don’t be fooled. They do a dance together and they practice on Centre Court? So what? That rivalry is alive and well.”