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Sabalenka rues another missed chance against Gauff in French Open final: 'This one hurts so much'

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Sabalenka rues another missed chance against Gauff in French Open final: 'This one hurts so much'
Sport

Sport

Sabalenka rues another missed chance against Gauff in French Open final: 'This one hurts so much'

2025-06-08 02:42 Last Updated At:02:51

PARIS (AP) — While Coco Gauff was taking selfies on Court Philippe-Chatrier to celebrate her triumph on the Parisian clay, her opponent on the other side of the umpire’s chair was filled with anger and sadness.

As Roland-Garros officials prepared the court for the trophy ceremony, Aryna Sabalenka sat with her gaze lost in the distance before she took a towel and covered her face. And when it finally came time to speak, Sabalenka was silent for a long moment, as if on the verge of tears.

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Second placed Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus reacts with the trophy after the final match of the French Tennis Open against Coco Gauff of the U.S. at the Roland-Garros stadium in Paris, Saturday, June 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Aurelien Morissard)

Second placed Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus reacts with the trophy after the final match of the French Tennis Open against Coco Gauff of the U.S. at the Roland-Garros stadium in Paris, Saturday, June 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Aurelien Morissard)

Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus reacts during the final match of the French Tennis Open at the Roland-Garros against United States' Coco Gauff in Paris, Saturday, June 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)

Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus reacts during the final match of the French Tennis Open at the Roland-Garros against United States' Coco Gauff in Paris, Saturday, June 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)

Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus stis after losing the final match of the French Tennis Open at the Roland-Garros against United States' Coco Gauff in Paris, Saturday, June 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)

Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus stis after losing the final match of the French Tennis Open at the Roland-Garros against United States' Coco Gauff in Paris, Saturday, June 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)

Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus reacts during the final match of the French Tennis Open at the Roland-Garros against United States' Coco Gauff in Paris, Saturday, June 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)

Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus reacts during the final match of the French Tennis Open at the Roland-Garros against United States' Coco Gauff in Paris, Saturday, June 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)

The assessment of her own performance, when she finally took the microphone to address the Roland-Garros crowd, was ruthless.

“Honestly guys, this one hurts so much," she said. “To show such terrible tennis in the final does really hurt.”

The top-ranked Sabalenka won the first set as her high-risk approach brought dividends initially. But once Gauff found her stride, the Belarusian's errors became more and more frequent and she lost the match between the world's two highest-ranked players 6-7 (5), 6-2, 6-4.

Sabalenka hit 37 winners but finished the match with a staggering 70 unforced errors — compared to Gauff's 30. Sabalenka also dropped her serve nine times.

“I think I was overemotional,” she said. “I didn’t really handle myself quite well mentally, I would say. So basically that’s it. I was just making unforced errors. I think she won the match not because she played incredible; just because I made all of those mistakes from — like, if you look from the outside, kind of like from easy balls."

The disappointment was even greater given that Sabalenka has worked hard to adapt her game to the slow surface over the years, and after she ended Iga Swiatek’s 26-match unbeaten streak at the French Open in the semifinals.

“You’ve been playing against a lot of tough opponents, Olympic champion, Iga, and then you go out, and you play really bad,” she said during her post-match interview. “It was honestly the worst tennis I’ve played in the last, I don’t know how many months."

Sabalenka also complained about the weather conditions. The retractable roof over the center court remained open during the final, and Sabalenka was visibly annoyed by bursts of wind sweeping across the court.

“Conditions were terrible," the three-time major champion said. “When she would hit the ball, at some point the wind would just let the ball fly like crazy, and you know, I was late every time.”

This was the second major final Sabalenka lost to Gauff, after the 2023 U.S. Open, where she also won the first set. Sabalenka had won their most recent meeting on clay this year in Madrid and thought she had the weapons to beat the American on the biggest stage.

“It’s another tough Grand Slam final against Coco,” Sabalenka said. “Another terrible performance from me against Coco in the final. I have to step back, look at this from a perspective, and try to finally learn the lesson, because I cannot go out there every time against her in Grand Slam finals and play such terrible tennis and give those wins, not easily, but emotionally.”

AP tennis: https://apnews.com/hub/tennis

Second placed Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus reacts with the trophy after the final match of the French Tennis Open against Coco Gauff of the U.S. at the Roland-Garros stadium in Paris, Saturday, June 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Aurelien Morissard)

Second placed Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus reacts with the trophy after the final match of the French Tennis Open against Coco Gauff of the U.S. at the Roland-Garros stadium in Paris, Saturday, June 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Aurelien Morissard)

Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus reacts during the final match of the French Tennis Open at the Roland-Garros against United States' Coco Gauff in Paris, Saturday, June 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)

Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus reacts during the final match of the French Tennis Open at the Roland-Garros against United States' Coco Gauff in Paris, Saturday, June 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)

Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus stis after losing the final match of the French Tennis Open at the Roland-Garros against United States' Coco Gauff in Paris, Saturday, June 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)

Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus stis after losing the final match of the French Tennis Open at the Roland-Garros against United States' Coco Gauff in Paris, Saturday, June 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)

Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus reacts during the final match of the French Tennis Open at the Roland-Garros against United States' Coco Gauff in Paris, Saturday, June 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)

Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus reacts during the final match of the French Tennis Open at the Roland-Garros against United States' Coco Gauff in Paris, Saturday, June 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)

WASHINGTON (AP) — A U.S. service member who has been missing since Iran shot down a fighter jet has been rescued, President Donald Trump wrote in a social media post early Sunday.

A frantic U.S. search-and-rescue operation unfolded after the crash of the F-15E Strike Eagle on Friday, as Iran also promised a reward for anyone who turned in the “enemy pilot.”

A second crew member was rescued earlier.

“This brave Warrior was behind enemy lines in the treacherous mountains of Iran, being hunted down by our enemies, who were getting closer and closer by the hour,” Trump wrote.

Trump said that the aviator is injured but “will be just fine,” adding that the rescue involved “dozens of aircraft” and that the U.S. had been monitoring his location “24 hours a day, and diligently planning for his rescue.”

The fighter jet was the first U.S. aircraft to have crashed in Iranian territory since the conflict in late February.

Trump said last week that the U.S. had “decimated” Iran and would finish the war “very fast.” Two days later, Iran shot down two U.S. military planes, showing the ongoing perils of the bombing campaign and the ability of a degraded Iranian military to continue to hit back.

In Kuwait, an Iranian drone attack caused significant damage to two power plants and put a water desalination station out of service, according to the Ministry of Electricity. No injuries were reported from the attack, the ministry said.

In Bahrain, the national oil company said that a drone attack caused a fire at one of its storage facilities, which was extinguished. It said the damage was still being assessed and no injuries had been reported.

In the United Arab Emirates, authorities responded to multiple fires at the Borouge petrochemicals plant, a joint venture of the Abu Dhabi National Oil Co. and Borealis of Austria. They say the fires were caused by falling debris following successful interceptions by air defense systems, but production at the plant in Ruwais, near the UAE’s western border with Saudi Arabia, has halted.

The strike came a day after Israel struck a petrochemical plant in Iran that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said generated revenue that it had used to fund the war.

The war began with joint U.S.-Israel strikes on Feb. 28 and has killed thousands, shaken global markets, cut off key shipping routes and spiked fuel prices. Both sides have threatened and hit civilian targets, bringing warnings of possible war crimes.

The other jet to go down was a U.S. A-10 attack aircraft. Neither the status of the crew nor exactly where it crashed was immediately known.

Trump renewed his threats for Iran to open up the Strait of Hormuz, a crucial waterway for global energy shipments that has been choked off by Tehran, by Monday or face devastating consequences, writing Saturday in a social media post: “Remember when I gave Iran ten days to MAKE A DEAL or OPEN UP THE HORMUZ STRAIT. Time is running out — 48 hours before all Hell will reign down on them.”

“The doors of hell will be opened to you” if Iran’s infrastructure is attacked, Gen. Ali Abdollahi Aliabadi with the country’s joint military command said late Saturday in response to Trump’s renewed threat, state media reported. In turn, the general threatened all infrastructure used by the U.S. military in the region.

But Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson, Tahir Andrabi, told The Associated Press that his government’s efforts to broker a ceasefire are “right on track” after Islamabad last week said that it would soon host talks between the U.S. and Iran.

Iran’s foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, said that Iranian officials “have never refused to go to Islamabad.”

Mediators from Pakistan, Turkey and Egypt were working to bring the U.S. and Iran to the negotiating table, according to two regional officials.

The proposed compromise includes a cessation of hostilities to allow a diplomatic settlement, according to a regional official involved in the efforts and a Gulf diplomat briefed on the matter. They spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss closed-door diplomacy.

Iran’s parliamentary speaker, Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, issued a veiled threat late Friday to disrupt traffic through a second strategic waterway in the region, the Bab el-Mandeb.

The strait, 32 kilometers (20 miles) wide, links the Red Sea with the Gulf of Aden and the Indian Ocean. More than a tenth of seaborne global oil and a quarter of container ships pass through it.

“Which countries and companies account for the highest transit volumes through the strait?” Qalibaf wrote.

More than 1,900 people have been killed in Iran since the war began.

In Gulf Arab states and the occupied West Bank, more than two dozen people have died, while 19 have been reported dead in Israel and 13 U.S. service members have been killed. In Lebanon, more than 1,400 people have been killed and more than 1 million people have been displaced. Ten Israeli soldiers have died there.

This report has been corrected to show that Borealis is an Austrian company and not Australian.

Jon Gambrell in Dubai, United Arab Emirates; Samy Magdy in Cairo; Munir Ahmed in Islamabad; Dasha Litvinova in Tallinn, Estonia; and Seung Min Kim, Will Weissert, Michelle L. Price, Lisa Mascaro and Ben Finley in Washington, contributed to this report.

Followers of Iraq's Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr chant slogans as they wave national Iraqi flag during a protest against U.S. and Israeli attacks on multiple cities across Iran, in Tahrir Square, Baghdad, Baghdad, Iraq, Saturday, April 4, 2026. (AP Photo/Hadi Mizban)

Followers of Iraq's Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr chant slogans as they wave national Iraqi flag during a protest against U.S. and Israeli attacks on multiple cities across Iran, in Tahrir Square, Baghdad, Baghdad, Iraq, Saturday, April 4, 2026. (AP Photo/Hadi Mizban)

A bedroom is damaged in a building struck in an Israeli airstrike in the southern port city of Tyre, Lebanon, Saturday, April 4, 2026. (AP Photo/Mohammed Zaatari)

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Pedetrians walk by a destroyed building within the Grand Hosseiniyeh, with the mosque visible in the background, which officials at the site say was hit by U.S.-Israeli airstrikes Tuesday, in Zanjan, Iran, Saturday, April 4, 2026. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)

Pedetrians walk by a destroyed building within the Grand Hosseiniyeh, with the mosque visible in the background, which officials at the site say was hit by U.S.-Israeli airstrikes Tuesday, in Zanjan, Iran, Saturday, April 4, 2026. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)

Police officers and their horses take cover in an underground parking garage as sirens warn of an incoming missile fired from Yemen in Tel Aviv, Israel, Saturday, April 4, 2026. (AP Photo/Maya Levin)

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A man looks at a destroyed building within the Grand Hosseiniyeh complex that officials say was hit by U.S.-Israeli airstrikes Tuesday in Zanjan, Iran, Saturday, April 4, 2026. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)

A man looks at a destroyed building within the Grand Hosseiniyeh complex that officials say was hit by U.S.-Israeli airstrikes Tuesday in Zanjan, Iran, Saturday, April 4, 2026. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)

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