Photo Credit:Kristy Wigglesworth/AP
Coco Gauff is reflecting on what she can learn from a difficult US Open exit. The 21-year-old tennis star opened up after her fourth-round loss to Naomi Osaka on Monday, Sept. 1, acknowledging both her disappointment and the progress she made during the tournament.
In her post-match press conference, Gauff admitted she broke down with her team after the match but said their support helped her shift perspective. “I think that I’m trying to be more positive,” the two-time Grand Slam champion said. “After the match I was really disappointed. Kind of broke down to my team. Then hearing their perspectives and everything, it definitely is a lot of positive things.”
Osaka, 27, defeated Gauff 6-3, 6-2 at Flushing Meadows. Despite the tough result, Gauff said she entered the match knowing it would be a challenge against a four-time Grand Slam winner. She also noted the improvements she made during the tournament, particularly with her serve. “If I kept the way I was going in Cincinnati to here, I would have been out of the first round,” she said. “So I think where my serve started from the start of the tournament to today was a big improvement. I feel like now I just have to get everything to work together.”
Gauff acknowledged the loss stung more because she was feeling confident after her previous match. “Did I feel like I had a lot of confidence after my last match? Yeah, definitely. I think that was a big confidence booster. So today feels more disappointing, I think, than maybe it would have felt losing in the first or second round,” she explained.
The tournament has been emotional for Gauff. In her second-round win over Donna Vekic on Aug. 28, she cried during changeovers and admitted she was shaken by nerves and pressure. At one point she splashed water on her face during a bathroom break to calm herself down before regaining composure to close out the match. “I just show people what it’s like to be a human, and I have bad days, but I think it’s more about how you get up after those bad moments and how you show up after that,” she said. “I think today I showed that I can get up after feeling the worst I’ve ever felt on the court.”
