{"id":138060,"date":"2025-09-06T22:38:11","date_gmt":"2025-09-06T22:38:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/138060\/"},"modified":"2025-09-06T22:38:11","modified_gmt":"2025-09-06T22:38:11","slug":"the-u-s-open-womens-final-and-the-art-of-the-grand-slam-runner-up-speech","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/138060\/","title":{"rendered":"The U.S. Open women\u2019s final and the art of the Grand Slam runner-up speech"},"content":{"rendered":"

FLUSHING, N.Y. \u2014 The last time Aryna Sabalenka<\/a>\u00a0<\/a>stood in front of a microphone after losing a Grand Slam final, her speech was heard around the world.<\/p>\n

After her twisting French Open final defeat to Coco Gauff<\/a>, Sabalenka opened with \u201cthis one hurts so much, guys.\u201d Then she lamented her performance, the conditions, and the match itself, describing all three as \u201cterrible\u201d before congratulating Gauff and thanking her team, again apologizing for \u201cthis terrible final.\u201d<\/p>\n

Saturday at the U.S. Open<\/a>, Sabalenka met Amanda Anisimova, who also captured the world\u2019s imagination with her last major-final speech. After the humiliation of a 6-0, 6-0 Wimbledon final defeat to Iga \u015awi\u0105tek<\/a> \u2014 the first double bagel in a Wimbledon final since 1911 \u2014 Anisimova broke down in tears before she delivered a heartfelt monologue lasting more than five minutes (not far off a tenth of the match length) that paid tribute to her mum, describing\u00a0 her as \u201cthe most selfless person I know.\u201d<\/p>\n

It resonated with new fans and fans who already knew her, aware of the journey Anisimova had been on since the sudden death of her father, Konstantin, in 2019, when Anisimova was just 17.<\/p>\n

When this U.S. Open final<\/a> was over, it was Sabalenka speaking after a 6-3, 7-6(3) triumph and Anisimova again reflecting on a defeat, taking part in a tennis ritual that cuts to the height of emotion, and also goes against almost every other sport.<\/p>\n

In conversation with broadcaster Mary Carillo, Anisimova said she \u201cdidn\u2019t fight hard for her dreams today,\u201d before telling Sabalenka that she was \u201cin awe of what you have accomplished. You keep on achieving some incredible things.\u201d<\/p>\n

She then thanked her team, freestyling as she did at Wimbledon, but with much less emotion.<\/p>\n

Winners receiving praise and sharing their joy with everyone watching is a fixture of just about every sport. Asking the beaten finalist to stick around, watch their rival be presented with a trophy and adulation, and, hardest of all, have a microphone thrust in their face and sum up how they are feeling is a form of emotional laceration unique to tennis. It bares the defeated player\u2019s soul, but also provides real-time processing not just for them, but the sport\u2019s fans.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe love people\u2019s pain, but on the other hand, we like the idea that that pain might be temporary, that things might be OK,\u201d said oratory expert Michael Ronayne, director of the Art of Training and Public Speaking course, in a recent phone interview.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd what we want from our winners or losers, but obviously losers in this particular situation, is for them to bare their souls. We\u2019re asking them to bleed in front of us.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bare their soul and bleed, but not too much. The apparently raw and unfiltered outpouring of feelings is, in reality, governed by an unwritten code of etiquette and expectations, just as in tennis itself. The qualities that players demonstrate during their matches \u2014 fight, intensity, the desperation to win \u2014 are expected to be shelved in favor of acquiescence moments later.<\/p>\n

\u201cThings happen when you\u2019re so heightened with emotions, your blood is running hot,\u201d 24-time Grand Slam champion Novak Djokovic said in a news conference at Wimbledon.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not always easy to suppress that and put diplomacy ahead, even though it\u2019s important to pay respect and acknowledge the success of your opponent who just beat you.\u201d<\/p>\n

And if a player breaks that code, even by being honest, the moment can turn quickly. Sabalenka was heavily criticized for her speech following the French Open, though largely in the context of her post-match news conference shortly afterward, in which she doubled down on the self-flagellation and suggested that she had lost the final, with Gauff barely playing any part in winning it.<\/p>\n

In the initial speeches, Anisimova spent a similar amount of emotion on \u015awi\u0105tek as Sabalenka did on Gauff. It was her vulnerability and humor \u2014 thanking her mother for breaking a superstition of flying in, only to see her daughter not win a game \u2014 that made her feel like a hero to the Wimbledon crowd even in defeat.<\/p>\n

How a player reacts to a devastating moment is personal, and in other sports, the losers are normally able to process them in private. At the 2023 U.S. Open, which Sabalenka also lost to Gauff after winning the first set, she smashed her racket in what she thought was a private room, but a rolling camera captured it and it was broadcast to the world.<\/p>\n

Ahead of their final, both players reflected on their last experience of being on stage after defeat. Anisimova said in a news conference last week that she was \u201creally happy with the way I was able to manage and still speak on court at the ceremony and try to embrace the moment and enjoy it as best as I could.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I left the locker room, I was just happy with the way I was able to carry myself, because that was the only thing in my control.\u201d That has not changed from the day of the Wimbledon final, when she said that she intended to \u201cacknowledge everything that I\u2019ve done the last two weeks and all the people that have helped me get there.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sabalenka\u2019s views have changed over time. \u201cWhat happened in Paris is definitely not going to happen here,\u201d she said in a news conference after beating Jessica Pegula to reach the final.<\/p>\n

\u201cI learned that lesson, and I will never behave that way. It\u2019s not me. I was super emotional. I let it go and let emotions take control over me, and it\u2019s not who I am. It\u2019s never gonna happen again.\u201d<\/p>\n

The ubiquity of these speeches means players who are often at the sharp end of Grand Slams acquire skills and strategies for managing them, but they also emphasize the emotional stress they induce. The commentators who have to stage-manage them also learn how different stars approach them. BBC commentator Annabel Croft appreciates how two sporting gladiators come together at the end, while Carillo, the former player and broadcaster who has conducted many U.S. Open final interviews, likes the \u201csweaty interview\u201d for its rawness.<\/p>\n

Danielle Collins of the U.S. said to a few reporters at Wimbledon: \u201cI do think that athletes and other celebrities, I guess, are held to a different standard, but we\u2019re not politicians.\u201d Ronayne observes that tennis players are asked to do what coaches do in most sports, but unlike coaches, rhetorical inspiration is not a core skill for players.<\/p>\n

Novak Djokovic, always guaranteed to give a gracious runner-up speech, is \u201csecond to none,\u201d according to Croft. \u201cHe\u2019s always engaged in the question and layers his answers,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe doesn\u2019t just take a question and quickly chuck it away.\u201d<\/p>\n

Being a great tennis champion does not mean being a great orator. After losing August\u2019s Canadian Open final to Victoria Mboko, Naomi Osaka forgot to congratulate the 18-year-old Canadian. She later apologized, explaining that she felt \u201cin a daze\u201d and did not want to repeat two other speeches \u2014 one at Indian Wells in 2018 and one following the Australian Open final in 2021, in which she asked her beaten opponent Jennifer Brady whether she preferred \u201cJenny\u201d or \u201cJennifer.\u201d Brady replied, \u201dJenny.\u201d Osaka addressed her as \u201cJennifer.\u201d<\/p>\n

Osaka\u2019s management strategy is writing something down in advance, endearingly working her way through a victory speech against Petra Kvitov\u00e1 at the 2019 Australian Open before saying, \u201cI read notes before this, but I still forgot the rest of what I am supposed to say.\u201d<\/p>\n

Most players want to avoid tempting fate by counterbalancing any possible complacency or fatalism. Mirra Andreeva, who has started saying \u201cI\u2019d like to thank me\u201d in victory speeches, said she heard the quote from the American rapper Snoop Dogg. She doesn\u2019t write things down beforehand, but said in a news conference that after finals, \u201cmaybe sometimes you can see me mumbling a little bit.\u201d<\/p>\n

The contrasting strategies dovetail with the obligations on each character in the story. It might appear that more would be expected of the winner, as the protagonist, but the emotions involved make the runner-up\u2019s speech most complicated. \u201cIt is one of the most challenging moments as a tennis player,\u201d former world No. 1 Maria Sharapova said in July on the First We Feast YouTube channel.<\/p>\n

\u201cI do find that in some of those moments you get to know an individual\u2019s personality \u2026 Your character comes through with how you\u2019re handling difficult situations, so part of being on the podium as a runner-up, I ultimately think sets you up for winning.\u201d<\/p>\n

Some in tennis wish that the genuineness of the runners-up speech could carry over into authenticity that includes resentment or self-flagellation, like that which Sabalenka displayed at the French Open.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019d love to be like, \u2018I don\u2019t like you,\u2019\u201d Frances Tiafoe said in a news conference ahead of the U.S. Open.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wish there was a lot more of that, because, I mean, like you lose a tough match. \u2018Oh, man, I\u2019m so happy for you.\u2019 No, you\u2019re not. Like, you\u2019re not. You\u2019re just not.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ronayne said that looking for something genuine should include negative emotions. \u201cIf struggling to be genuine, avoid the subject. \u2018They were the better player\u2026\u2019 \u2014 if you don\u2019t feel it, don\u2019t say it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Djokovic\u2019s solution is to vent in the privacy of the locker room, taking advantage of time to decompress, but the immediacy of the runner-up speech disallows this.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you lose a heartbreaker, it\u2019s hard to bounce back and three minutes later there\u2019s a microphone in your face,\u201d Australian Open champion \u2014 and 2017 beaten U.S. Open finalist \u2014 Madison Keys said in an interview in April. \u201cBut I think it\u2019s just part of the job and you kind of know that when you make a final, whether you win or you lose, you\u2019re going to be giving a speech.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think that the ones that are good just feel really genuine and usually the ones where people get emotional, either winning or losing. Like Andy (Murray) trying to speak and I would start sobbing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Murray is the sine qua non of men\u2019s Grand Slam final runner-up speeches. He had to give eight of them and delivered some killer lines. After losing to Roger Federer at the 2010 Australian Open final, a tearful Murray said: \u201cI can cry like Roger, it\u2019s just a shame I can\u2019t play like him.\u201d<\/p>\n

At Wimbledon two years later, Murray transformed public perceptions of him with a raw speech after losing a fourth straight Grand Slam final. \u201cI\u2019m getting closer,\u201d he said, before his voice broke along with many people\u2019s hearts. Ronayne said that the lack of rhetorical devices in most speeches made Murray stand out, while the player himself said the Wimbledon speech was the first time that he \u201creally showed (his) emotions to the public, and from there I probably felt a bit more comfortable opening up.\u201d<\/p>\n

Federer also endeared himself to many when he sobbed after winning his first Wimbledon title in 2003, humorously ending the interview by hoisting up the trophy as he collapsed into tears.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

After the 2021 U.S. Open final, the beaten finalist Leylah Fernandez offered a beautiful example of connecting with a crowd emotionally. Her defeat to Emma Raducanu was played on the 20th anniversary of 9\/11, and addressing the crowd directly, she said: \u201cOn this day, I know it is especially hard for New York and everyone around the United States.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just want to say I hope I can be as strong and as resilient as New York has been the past 20 years. Thank you for always having my back, thank you for cheering for me. I love you New York and hope to see you next year.\u201d<\/p>\n

No matter the strategy, the on-court interview generates nerves for the people on both sides of the equation. Jim Courier, a former world No. 1 and Tennis Channel analyst at the U.S. Open, charmed the 1992 French Open crowd by speaking\u00a0in fluent French. \u201cJe parle francais comme une v\u00e2che espagnole,\u201d Courier joked. \u201cI speak French like a Spanish cow.\u201d<\/p>\n

Courier now asks the questions at the Australian Open.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat Naomi said, what Aryna said, anyone who\u2019s had their dreams dashed, and I\u2019ve been there, it\u2019s awfully hard to go put on a smiley face and say, quote unquote \u2018the right things.\u2019 I think they should be granted a lot of room for saying the real things.<\/p>\n

\u201cHaving said that, we\u2019ve all become conditioned to graceful losing in tennis, and I wouldn\u2019t be disappointed if the runners-up didn\u2019t have to speak and didn\u2019t have to stay there for the trophy ceremony. It\u2019s almost cruel what we ask our athletes to go through.\u201d<\/p>\n

Some speeches are even more remarkable, like one example involving Carillo and Martina Navratilova in the 1980s. Navratilova had just lost to Andrea Jaeger, but it was a round-robin match, and Carillo was confident she could go and grab Navratilova and have a decent post-match chat.<\/p>\n

\u201cMartina asks, \u2018Do you really want to know?\u2019 I\u2019m nodding, and in her inimitable way, she says, \u2018Well, it\u2019s my time of month.\u2019 We\u2019re live on air and I\u2019m thinking, \u2018Christ, why did I think this was a good idea?\u2019 And then \u2026 She\u2019s really going through her menstrual cycle. Anyway, she finishes up and she says, \u2018I\u2019ll be OK, I\u2019ll play much better tomorrow.\u2019 And my producer\u2019s yelling in my ear.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo, in throwing it back upstairs to the booth, I said: \u2018All right, so you heard it guys, it just wasn\u2019t Martina\u2019s night. Period.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

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