Drawing on the painful memory of her defeat three years ago in the French Open final gave Coco Gauff just the motivation she needed to win the clay-court major for the first time.

Only in sports, and probably only in tennis, would a Black girl growing up in Florida and a White girl growing up 5,500 miles away in Minsk grow up to collide in Paris, chasing one another’s dreams.

Sabalenka has reached seven finals this year, winning three titles, and leads the WTA Tour with 40 wins in 47 matches.