Coco Gauff believes multiple players have a chance of winning the title at Roland Garros as she aims to win a second Grand Slam title over the next fortnight.
The American is one of the most in-form players on the tour right now having reached back-to-back finals in Madrid and Rome.
A former finalist at Roland Garros Gauff has the skillset to go far and is confident in her game right now as she elaborated on her comfortability on clay, “Yeah, it definitely gives me a lot of confidence with the results over the last few weeks, but I think just putting those results in the past and focusing on the next two weeks here,” Gauff opened her press conference by saying.
“I think once I won junior French Open I still didn’t even think about it being a surface thing, but then I think once I got on tour, I was, like, Okay. I actually feel really comfortable on this surface. I’ve noticed that when I would go from hard to clay it was pretty easy for me to transition to.
“I definitely think it’s something that I’m comfortable on. I mainly credit it to me probably sliding a lot on a hard court so when I go on clay it just feels a lot easier.”
As mentioned Gauff is a previous finalist in Paris where she lost to Iga Swiatek a few years ago with the American being a changed player since then.
Reflecting on that loss in the final Gauff stated that it was a defeat that changed her mindset in finals which was evident when she won the US Open a couple of years ago, “I think immediately after it was a tough feeling for me, because I felt like I very much underperformed in that final, not necessarily obviously in the game-wise, but mentally I was very disappointed how mentally I approached that match,” Gauff observed.
“I just felt like maybe I could never overcome that. Then I just turned it into motivation. I knew that, I don’t know, just had a deep-down gut that I was going to be in a final position again. I was like, I’m not going to go out like that. If I go out, I’m going to leave with my head held high. So I was able to approach that US Open final differently.”
Now Gauff is a regular contender for Grand Slams and has never been better placed to win another Grand Slam title then at Roland Garros especially with Iga Swiatek’s current dip in form.
However, when talking about women’s tennis Gauff has dismissed any talk that she is the favourite for the title and that it is an open race for the crown, “I think everybody is playing some great tennis,” Gauff claimed.
“I would definitely think it’s pretty open. I mean, obviously I hope that I’m up there, but there is obviously like Jasmine, Aryna, Iga, Qinwen, Mirra. There’s some more I can name that all have the opportunity. Who knows? We all have seen things like US Open happen when Emma won.
“So there is literally anybody can win this tournament. Yeah, I think that’s what makes women’s tennis exciting. I think this is why everyone should tune in, because, you know, I feel like it’s maybe not so much on the men where maybe you have maybe the top three or four you know who’s going to win. I think women there’s so many possibilities so it makes each matchup equally exciting.”
Gauff will start her Roland Garros campaign on Tuesday against Olivia Gadecki.
