Roger Federer's former coach pinpoints what went wrong for Aryna Sabalenka against Coco Gauff, 'I feel terrible for her'

Aryna Sabalenka has now lost two Grand Slam finals this year after her French Open defeat to Coco Gauff.

Sabalenka was perplexed by Gauff, who fought from a set down to win her second Grand Slam final.

After the match, Sabalenka made a controversial claim about Gauff that has received a big reaction.

There has been much debate about why Sabalenka lost the French Open final, and now Roger Federer’s former coach has given his verdict.

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Paul Annacone pinpoints what went wrong for Aryna Sabalenka

Sabalenka hit 70 unforced errors in her three-set final defeat to Gauff, more than her last three matches before the final combined.

While Federer’s former coach Paul Annacone accepted that was a key to Sabalenka losing to Gauff, he also pinpointed her serve as a weakness in that final.

Annacone went on to suggest that Sabalenka can learn from this defeat ahead of a quick turnaround to the grass court season.

“Yeah, that’s the thing that has got to get better,” Annacone said on Tennis Channel Live. “You look at that stat (unforced errors) and you combine it with 45% first serve percentage. That’s not very good, but then you’re winning less than those on your first serve anyway and winning less than half on your second serve.

“So she to me really did shoot herself in the foot, I mean she’s a great player I feel terrible for her because she’s been the best player on tour this year and today she wasn’t and I think today most of it was her own undoing.

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“And I think one of the things we’re so lucky as tennis players is we actually can learn, she should take this and learn, because she doesn’t have to play as perfect as she tried to play. And no matter how you play, it’s not what’s done to you, it’s how you react to whatever is done to you.

“And the reaction really enabled Coco to be calm, cool and composed. And Coco was just a genius about it and Sabalenka just unravelled.”

Paul Annacone explains what the key difference was between Aryna Sabalenka and Coco Gauff

While Annacone claimed that Sabalenka mostly lost due to her own undoing, he has also praised Gauff’s mentality.

The 62-year-old highlighted the contrast in the two players’ emotions on court and suggested that enabled Gauff to bounce back from the disappointment of losing the first set.

“It’s amazing and there’s always a couple of key things that happened, and again it is not necessarily what happens, it is about how you react to what happens,” added Annacone. “And this is a key moment in the first set, 4-1 40-0 (to Sabalenka).

“Everything is going great, double fault, things kind of sideways for a little bit for Sabalenka. You can see she is starting to talk to herself, and somehow Coco hangs in there gets out of this game. And what happens was really interesting, because you look at moments and see what the players do right.

“Coco, look at the composure, look at her face. She somehow gets in, loses that tie-break and shouldn’t, but her expression never changes, her composure never changes, her ability to stay in the moment never changes.

“And Sabalenka is the one that has been on this emotional rollercoaster ride for the last 25 minutes, so Coco resets and then gets that big lead and that turned everything. Because it just melted the will of Sabalenka to think through what was going on.”

Sabalenka will look to move on from her French Open final heartbreak, as she looks ahead to the grass court season.

The world number one is next scheduled to compete at the Berlin Open that begins on Monday, June 16, where Sabalenka and Gauff will both be present.

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