Coco Gauff on winning the US Open: I will do it again
Coco Gauff has claimed that she will win the US Open again, with the American No.1 reflecting on a ‘tough’ couple of weeks during the North American hard court swing.
Gauff began her US Open title defence yesterday, beating Frenchwoman Varvara Gracheva, 6-2 6-0, in just over an hour on Arthur Ashe Stadium.
Despite the convincing start to her home major this year, it has been a challenging lead-up to the US Open for Gauff, who had only won one match in Toronto and Cincinnati.
This is a big difference from last year, when Gauff won 11 matches before going onto win her only Grand Slam title to date.
Although there may be more expectation on Gauff as defending champion, the 20-year-old has suggested that she is not putting pressure on herself to retain the title and she believes that she will lift the US Open title again in her career.
“I’m not going to put pressure on myself on my victory lap. I’m treating this tournament like if you’re defending something it means you won,” explained Gauff. “If you did it, it means you’re going to do it again. Whether I do it again this year again or not, I am going to do it again. Whether it’s 2024 or not, I will do it again.”
The World No.3 continued, “The last couple of weeks were tough, and I was like, ‘I have to do this and do that’, but I don’t have to prove anything to anyone except myself. So this whole week or two weeks are just about proving all the expectations that I have on myself.
“I have a lot left to give this game, and whether that’s going to happen this year or in the future, I have many more years coming back here, and I’m not going to win every year. So I think just that perspective and just having the belief that I can but not the expectation that I should.”
“Whether it’s 2024 or not, I will do it again” 🫳🎤
Coco Gauff is setting her sights on a second US Open crown. pic.twitter.com/dmAY0EmCtD
— US Open Tennis (@usopen) August 26, 2024
Gauff will look to continue her title defence on Wednesday, when she takes on Tatjana Maria in the second round.
Inside the baseline…
There has been a lot of talk about Coco Gauff coming into this tournament, especially as she has been so different compared to her form heading into the US Open last year. However, the victory over Varvara Gracheva was seriously impressive and convincing. This could be a case of Gauff using her home crowd support and the good feelings from last year to spur her on, and that is what the best players do.
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