“Hopefully I can get to the final in Roland Garros, and maybe the ‘third time is a charm’ thing is a real thing,” Coco Gauff said after her two consecutive defeats in the final at the Madrid Open and the Italian Open. Talking about her record in Paris, although she reached the final in 2022, Gauff had to face a straight-set defeat at the hands of the four-time champion Iga Swiatek. Following that loss, she said, “It was a heartbreaking match. It felt like seeing your dreams kind of snatched away.”

After fulfilling her dream this time by becoming the first American woman to win the tournament since Serena Williams (in 2015), she spoke about how badly she wanted to win this title at Roland Garros. But after winning it, she shared a surprising detail about the Coupe Suzanne Lenglen. What is it, though?

Coco Gauff came back from a set down to defeat the world number one, Aryna Sabalenka, by 6(5)-7, 6-2, 6-4 in this epic final. After securing her second major title in her career, the American stated, “I think this [Grand Slam] win was harder than the first because you don’t want to get satisfied with just that one.” Was she satisfied now after getting the chance to bring home this prestigious trophy?

Well, here’s the twist in the tale. Gauff recently revealed the truth behind the French Open trophy with a hilarious dig at it. In a light-hearted TikTok post, she spilled the beans, saying, “Hi, I just won a French Open, or Roland Garros, and this is the trophy that you guys see. The one that we take pictures with do press, and all of them, but actually it’s what we don’t get to take this home. This stays with the tournament, and I’m gonna show you guys the ones we take home. It’s a lot smaller.”

She then showed the smaller replica and held it near her face to make the fans understand the exact size of the replica. Following that, she brought in a Perrier water bottle and also a cup to demonstrate the same. “That tells how small it is, but you know, it’s the memories that matter the most. It’s very pretty, and it’s like a miniature version of the real trophy. So this is the one I get to take home.“

Before concluding the video clip, she also posted a side-by-side photo of herself during the championship holding the original trophy versus the one she has now. It was really a big difference in size! 

What was the secret to her success at the 2025 French Open? Well, after the final, Coco Gauff gave a heartfelt shout-out to the star athlete and her close friend, Gabby Thomas, for showing her how to lift up her spirits amidst all odds. In her IG stories, Gauff shared a paper note which read, “I will win French Open 2025… I will be the French Open champion 2025.” She wrote that multiple times on that paper and captioned that IG story she mentioned, “Ignore my handwriting, but i saw @gabbythomas do this. Had to do the same lol.” Seeing this post from Gauff, Thomas also shared her post on her own IG stories, saying, “🥹🥹🥹 @cocogauff YOU DESERVE IT ALL!!” Is manifestation the only secret to success for Gauff? Well, here’s what tennis experts have found out in their analyses.

Tennis experts analyze Coco Gauff’s victory against Aryna Sabalenka

With this win, Coco Gauff has now taken her H2H record to 6-5 against the Belarusian. Talking about the key factors that brought success to Gauff in this campaign, especially in this final match against Aryna Sabalenka, tennis legend Rod Laver hailed Gauff for holding her composure under pressure against such a formidable opponent. Even American legend Tracy Austin praised Coco Gauff’s resilience, composure, and match management against the world number one.

What does the seven-time champion, Chris Evert, have to say on this? “She really kept her calm after losing the first set. She’s a fighter; she came back and figured out she needed to match Aryna’s power, and she did that. She did that and stayed calm under the pressure when Aryna got a little bit flustered and sensed the errors. All is happy in the Gauff camp. She proved what a great all-court player she is. The defending she did was incredible. It came down to the wire, and she kept her cool better than Aryna; we can safely say that.“

The former world number four, Mary Joe Fernandez, also highlighted Coco Gauff’s maturity and not letting frustrations creep on her as her secret to success at Roland Garros. But according to Andy Roddick, “With this result, I mean, it takes Coco playing a phenomenal match. Coco is protecting her second service. She won 50% of her second-serve points. You tell us that going in against Sabalenka, who just crushes second-serve returns, that’s a big number for her. That’s a stat that probably won her the match.” What do you think about the key aspect that really sealed the deal for Gauff in this epic final?