Coco Gauff: The goal is to win the French Open
Coco Gauff has outlined her goal to win Roland Garros, with the world No.3 ‘feeling confident’ ahead of beginning the clay court season in Stuttgart.
Gauff is a former Roland Garros finalist (2022), and the clay court major is actually statistically her strongest Grand Slam tournament, despite winning the US Open last year.
And the 20-year-old appears to be looking forward to taking to the dirt this year, “For the clay court season this year, I’m really optimistic. Obviously the goal is to win French Open, but that’s every season of any top player. Your goals should be to try to win the big tournament.”
The American continued, “But I’m not looking at French Open right now. I’m focused on Stuttgart. I want to try to win Madrid or Rome or here. The last time I won a clay-court title was a couple years ago if I’m not mistaken (Parma 2021), so I kind of just want to get a recent clay title under my belt. So any of the ones along the next couple weeks would be nice.”
.@CocoGauff is ready to kick off her clay court season! ????#porschetennis #PTGP24 | @WTA pic.twitter.com/KwU1Ly3gQT
— Porsche Tennis (@PorscheTennis) April 16, 2024
As mentioned, Gauff became a Grand Slam champion for the first time last year at the US Open, which she revealed has made her feel like ‘a contender in all the tournaments’.
“I’m always feeling confident about myself,” said Gauff. “Especially after the US Open, I can be a contender. Semi-final in Australia, losing to Aryna [Sabalenka] who ended up winning.
“I feel like I’m definitely a contender in all the tournaments, and it just comes down to the crunch-time moments and who can perform better.”
Gauff will begin her clay court season at the WTA 500 tournament in Stuttgart this afternoon against compatriot Sachia Vickery.
Inside the baseline…
Coco Gauff should be seeing herself as a contender for every tournament, as the American is a great player on all surfaces and can even win on days when she is not playing at her best. Stuttgart has traditionally not been Gauff’s strongest tournament, having only won one of her three previous matches at the event, so it will be interesting to see if she can progress in her first appearance since becoming a major winner.
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