Coco Gauff has questioned whether she should have played the WTA 1000 event in Toronto as fatigue played a part in her exit to Diana Schnaider.
The American entered Canada having been fatigued from a disappointing Olympics where she failed to bring back a medal.
However, Gauff entered Toronto as she prepares for title defences in Cincinnati and the US Open but ultimately lost to doubles silver medallist Diana Schnaider 6-4 6-1.
It was a 70 minute defeat to the in-form Schnaider as Gauff exited at the third round stage as she was only one of three top ten players to enter Canada with Jessica Pegula and Aryna Sabalenka also entering Canada.
After the match Gauff admitted she questioned playing the event but insisted she wanted to test herself when being fatigued, “Sometimes I question like whether I should have played or not,” Gauff revealed to the WTA website.
“But at the end of the day I wanted to test myself and see if I would be able to, how I would do being mentally tired a little bit and physically fatigued. I said going into the tournament I didn’t have high expectations, but I wish I could have competed better today, even if it resulted in a loss. I don’t think I competed well.”
Despite the defeat Gauff was able to reflect on the Olympic experience that she went through for the first time and was able to explain the lessons she learned from Paris, “When you have success young, I think people, especially like fans of the sport tend to forget you’re still developing,” Gauff told the WTA website.
“A lot of times when you look at reasons why some younger girls maybe don’t do as well as they get older it’s more mental, if anything. Overall, I’m just trying to put that in perspective, and honestly the Olympics was a great learning experience for me.
“Sometimes when you do well young you just, you want everything to happen now. A lot of them are 24, between 24 to 27 range, so I guess it puts it into perspective sometimes. I think I just learned to just trust in my training and trust in the journey, just talking with them and learning about their stories.
“All of them at some point did well young, just because they’re so good. Your game is going to reach its final form in a few years. I’m 20, so hopefully by like 24 I’m there.”
Gauff will aim to use those stories from other athletes to her advantage as she prepares for a first Grand Slam title defence in New York.
As for Schnaider, the silver medallist in Toronto will face Liudmila Samsonova in the quarter-finals.
In the other quarter-final in the top half of the draw will see defending champion Jessica Pegula take on Peyton Stearns.
The bottom half of the draw will see Emma Navarro face Taylor Townsend while Amanda Anisimova takes on second seed Aryna Sabalenka.
