Coco Gauff says she believes the key to her Grand Slam breakthrough was down to her mentality as she takes positives in missing out on the French Open title.
The world No.23 only managed to win four games during her comprehensive loss to top seed Iga Swiatek who has now won 35 matches in a row. Gauff is the youngest woman to contest a major final since Maria Sharapova did so at the 2004 Wimbledon Championships. Throughout the match she appeared tentative on court and leaked a costly 23 unforced errors. Furthermore, she only managed to win 44% of her service points.
To many it would appear that playing in the biggest final of her career yet took its toll on the American teenager. However, Gauff says the reality of playing in the French Open final wasn’t exactly as she dreamt. Putting full praise on Swiatek’s performance against her.
“I think it was very different. I feel like the moment was definitely more minimal than I thought,” she said.
“In the match, it probably looked like I was freaking out but really it was just Iga was too good. I wasn’t freaking out.’
“I wasn’t as nervous as I thought I was going to be.”
Gauff only played one seeded player en route to her showdown against the world No.1. That was in the fourth round when she defeated 31st seed Elise Mertens. She also scored wins over Kaia Kanepi, Sloane Stephens and Maria Trevisan.
“I guess the journey to get here I realized the key to making the final was not something with my game or something that I needed to fix. It was more with my mentality and how I entered the matches,” she continued.
“I think that’s what I think is the difference between me dreaming it and reality. It’s not like some master puzzle that you need to solve. You just kind of have to get your mind in the right place.”
Whilst she has missed out on the title, Gauff can take comfort in the fact she will rise to a career-high of 13th in the WTA rankings on Monday. She is already the youngest woman to be ranked in the world’s top 30 at present.
Despite her young age, Gauff has also shined at other Grand Slam events with runs to the fourth round on three separate occasions, as well as also reaching the last eight of the French Open last year.
“I definitely feel like this helped my confidence a lot. When I was 15, 16, 17, I felt so much pressure to make a final. Now that I made it, I feels like a relief a little bit.” she said.
There is no time to rest for Gauff who will return to the court in less than 24 hours to play in the women’s doubles final alongside Jessican Pegula. The pair will take on home favourites Kristina Mladenovic and Caroline Garcia.
“I don’t know what my happiest moment has been (at the French Open this year). Hopefully it will be tomorrow if we can win in doubles. Hopefully that will be the happiest moment,” Gauff concluded.
