There was a time when serious questions were being asked Gauff’s mentality.
With her second serve liable to cough up double faults, and her forehand identified as a weakness, there were debates whether the issues were down to her mentality or technical deficiencies.
Some self-doubt appeared as recently as March, with her coach Jean-Christophe Faurel saying the pair “laid it down on the line” after a last-16 exit at the Miami Open.
Since then, she has won 18 of 21 matches and reached three successive finals in Madrid, Rome and Roland Garros.
“In Madrid and Rome, she lost the first set in her opening match. She could have gone out early and people would have said again, ‘Coco can’t win a match’,” Faurel said.
“One of her greatest strengths is her mentality. She never gives up.
“She often makes the difference thanks to her strength of character.”
This ability was evident during Saturday’s final in Paris.
Playing in a testing wind, and trailing the dominant player on the WTA Tour, Gauff refused to buckle.
She fought back from 4-1 down to leave the first set hanging in the balance, then improved further in the next two sets as Sabalenka became increasingly frustrated.
“Mentally there is nobody stronger in the women’s game,” British former world number four Greg Rusedski, who was analysing the match for BBC Radio 5 Live, said.
“Her forehand wasn’t firing at times and she looked like she was going to get blown away in the opening set, but she found a way to get through it.”