Coco Gauffs US Open defeat shows she has much work to do to return to Grand Slam glory
NEW YORK — When haters fueling her run.
Coco Gauff talked about to the U.S. Open.
doubters and haters fueling title a year ago,.
her run to the it felt more than.
U.S. Open title a a little bit manufactured..
year ago, it felt The true narrative of.
more than a little Gauff’s career was never.
bit manufactured. The true narrative about the anonymous online.
of Gauff’s career was comments on phone apps.
never about the anonymous that Gen Z’ers too.
online comments on phone often rely on for.
apps that Gen Z’ers validation. In real life,.
too often rely on Gauff was the product.
for validation. In real of a tennis ecosystem.
life, Gauff was the that decided she was.
product of a tennis a sure thing by.
ecosystem that decided she the time she was.
was a sure thing 10 years old. As.
by the time she prestigious academies recruited her.
was 10 years old. and companies threw sponsorship.
As prestigious academies recruited deals at her feet,.
her and companies threw anyone with an actual.
sponsorship deals at her stake in the sport.
feet, anyone with an knew that winning a.
actual stake in the Grand Slam title was.
sport knew that winning only a matter of.
a Grand Slam title when, not if. But.
was only a matter Gauff’s 6-3, 4-6, 6-3.
of when, not if. But loss to Emma Navarro.
Gauff’s 6-3, 4-6, 6-3 on Sunday, ending her.
loss to Emma Navarro reign as U.S. Open.
on Sunday, ending her champion in the fourth.
reign as U.S. Open round, is a moment.
champion in the fourth to bookmark in her.
round, is a moment career and ascent as.
to bookmark in her America’s most recognizable tennis.
career and ascent as star. For the first.
America’s most recognizable tennis time, the doubts might.
star. For the first time, be real. “Obviously because.
the doubts might be I’m wanting to reach.
real. “Obviously because I’m wanting a different level, it.
to reach a different is disappointing,” Gauff said.
level, it is disappointing,” Sunday. “But I’m not.
Gauff said Sunday. “But going to beat myself.
I’m not going to up and be like,.
beat myself up and ‘Oh this is so.
be like, ‘Oh this bad.’” She shouldn’t be.
is so bad.’” She shouldn’t too hard on herself..
be too hard on Gauff is merely 20,.
herself. Gauff is merely with a long runway.
20, with a long to accomplish great things.
runway to accomplish great in the sport. Her.
things in the sport. mantra coming into the.
Her mantra coming into U.S. Open was that.
the U.S. Open was nobody can take away.
that nobody can take what she’s already done.
away what she’s already and she’ll have many.
done and she’ll have more chances to add.
many more chances to Grand Slam titles before.
add Grand Slam titles her career is over..
before her career is That’s both a clever.
over. That’s both a and accurate way to.
clever and accurate way relieve some of the.
to relieve some of pressure she surely felt.
the pressure she surely returning to the site.
felt returning to the of her greatest triumph..
site of her greatest But Gauff has been.
triumph. But Gauff has been around long enough now.
around long enough now and gotten to the.
and gotten to the late stages of Grand.
late stages of Grand Slams enough times to.
Slams enough times to have higher expectations and.
have higher expectations and realistically assess what has.
realistically assess what has gone wrong. Here are.
gone wrong. Here are the the facts: Though Gauff.
facts: Though Gauff reached reached the semifinals of.
the semifinals of the the Australian Open and.
Australian Open and French French Open, which should.
Open, which should both both be considered successful.
be considered successful runs, runs, she is 7-12.
she is 7-12 this this season against players.
season against players ranked ranked in the top.
in the top 30. 30. Since winning the.
Since winning the title title in Auckland in.
in Auckland in her her first tournament of.
first tournament of the the year, Gauff hasn’t.
year, Gauff hasn’t even even reached a final..
reached a final. Though Though she has three.
she has three top-10 top-10 wins this season,.
wins this season, two two of them came.
of them came against against the spiraling Ons.
the spiraling Ons Jabeur, Jabeur, who is now.
who is now down down to No. 22..
to No. 22. And And Gauff herself leaves.
Gauff herself leaves New New York ranked outside.
York ranked outside the the top five for.
top five for the the first time in.
first time in quite quite awhile. In other.
awhile. In other words, the words, the entire year.
entire year on balance on balance has been.
has been a backwards a backwards step. That’s.
step. That’s undeniable. And undeniable. And for someone.
for someone who once who once aspired to.
aspired to put up put up Serena Williams-like.
Serena Williams-like numbers up numbers up on the.
on the scoreboard, this scoreboard, this is not.
is not the trajectory the trajectory she should.
she should be on be on at 20.
at 20 years old. “It’s years old. “It’s not.
not the summer I the summer I wanted,”.
wanted,” Gauff said. “But Gauff said. “But there’s.
there’s like 70 other like 70 other players.
players in the draw in the draw who.
who would love to would love to have.
have the summer I the summer I had..
had. So many people So many people want.
want to make the to make the fourth.
fourth round, so many round, so many people.
people want make the want make the Olympics,.
Olympics, so it’s (about) so it’s (about) perspective..
perspective. “I expect better, but “I expect better, but.
at the end of at the end of.
the day it happened the day it happened.
and I know I and I know I.
can turn it around.” So can turn it around.”.
what went wrong and So what went wrong.
what’s next? A year ago, and what’s next? A.
as Gauff went on year ago, as Gauff.
her incredible run to went on her incredible.
the title, much was run to the title,.
made of the fact much was made of.
that she overhauled her the fact that she.
coaching team after Wimbledon overhauled her coaching team.
by hiring Pere Riba after Wimbledon by hiring.
and Brad Gilbert, who Pere Riba and Brad.
is a huge presence Gilbert, who is a.
in the sport by huge presence in the.
virtue of his commentary sport by virtue of.
work for ESPN. Riba his commentary work for.
departed last December to ESPN. Riba departed last.
take over the head December to take over.
coaching duties for Zheng the head coaching duties.
Qinwen, while Gauff replaced for Zheng Qinwen, while.
him with Felipe Ramirez. Whether Gauff replaced him with.
Gauff continues with this Felipe Ramirez. Whether Gauff.
coaching setup or makes continues with this coaching.
some changes, her year setup or makes some.
has largely been characterized changes, her year has.
by poor serving and largely been characterized by.
losing leads while treading poor serving and losing.
water with her forehand, leads while treading water.
which had been considered with her forehand, which.
the biggest weak spot had been considered the.
in her game last biggest weak spot in.
year. Coming into the U.S. her game last year..
Open, Gauff double faulted Coming into the U.S..
256 times, the fifth-most Open, Gauff double faulted.
on the WTA tour 256 times, the fifth-most.
this year. In her on the WTA tour.
loss to Navarro, Gauff this year. In her.
threw up 19 double loss to Navarro, Gauff.
faults, including several in threw up 19 double.
clutch moments when the faults, including several in.
outcome was hanging in clutch moments when the.
the balance. She acknowledged outcome was hanging in.
that a deep dive the balance. She acknowledged.
into her serving issues that a deep dive.
was warranted as she into her serving issues.
goes into 2025. “It’s a was warranted as she.
mental hurdle I have goes into 2025. “It’s.
to get over, but a mental hurdle I.
I definitely want to have to get over,.
look at other things but I definitely want.
because I don’t want to look at other.
to lose matches like things because I don’t.
this anymore,” she said. Gauff want to lose matches.
also had 60 unforced like this anymore,” she.
errors Sunday, losing a said. Gauff also had.
majority of the baseline 60 unforced errors Sunday,.
rallies because her strokes losing a majority of.
eventually broke down against the baseline rallies because.
Navarro’s consistency and ability her strokes eventually broke.
to redirect pace. Navarro down against Navarro’s consistency.
won 34 of the and ability to redirect.
54 rallies of five pace. Navarro won 34.
shots or more. One of of the 54 rallies.
the more interesting things of five shots or.
from Gauff’s press conference more. One of the.
is that she did more interesting things from.
not commit to a Gauff’s press conference is.
schedule for the rest that she did not.
of the year. Though commit to a schedule.
she’ll certainly go to for the rest of.
Asia for some of the year. Though she’ll.
the big-money fall events certainly go to Asia.
and is likely to for some of the.
qualify for the year-end big-money fall events and.
WTA championships in Saudi is likely to qualify.
Arabia, Gauff made it for the year-end WTA.
clear that she needs championships in Saudi Arabia,.
to be on the Gauff made it clear.
practice court addressing some that she needs to.
of these issues. Maybe it’s be on the practice.
time for a bit court addressing some of.
of a reset. “I feel these issues. Maybe it’s.
like I want to time for a bit.
spend a good training of a reset. “I.
block,” she said. “I feel like I want.
haven’t had that since to spend a good.
maybe before the clay training block,” she said..
season started. I think “I haven’t had that.
for me in the since maybe before the.
long term I want clay season started. I.
to get a good think for me in.
training block and we’ll the long term I.
see how many tournaments want to get a.
I play for the good training block and.
rest of the year.” Even we’ll see how many.
at 20 years old, tournaments I play for.
Gauff has reached a the rest of the.
point in her career year.” Even at 20.
where she only needs years old, Gauff has.
to be judged by reached a point in.
her own standards. The her career where she.
reality is that she’s only needs to be.
fallen short, at least judged by her own.
momentarily. For the first standards. The reality is.
time in her career, that she’s fallen short,.
there may actually be at least momentarily. For.
some real doubters and the first time in.
haters wondering whether the her career, there may.
way she played a actually be some real.
year ago en route doubters and haters wondering.
to the U.S. Open whether the way she.
title was an exception played a year ago.
rather than the norm. Gauff en route to the.
isn’t going anywhere as U.S. Open title was.
a major factor in an exception rather than.
women’s tennis, and she’s the norm. Gauff isn’t.
still got a few going anywhere as a.
years before she hits major factor in women’s.
her projected physical peak. tennis, and she’s still.
For someone who came got a few years.
onto the tour with before she hits her.
some technical flaws in projected physical peak. For.
her serve and forehand someone who came onto.
and hasn’t fully corrected the tour with some.
them, these ups and technical flaws in her.
downs may just be serve and forehand and.
part of the package. But hasn’t fully corrected them,.
with this chapter of these ups and downs.
her career closed, Gauff may just be part.
no longer has to of the package. But.
worry about being the with this chapter of.
defending champion of anything. her career closed, Gauff.
She will go into no longer has to.
2025 with a clean worry about being the.
slate and fewer expectations. defending champion of anything..
Hopefully she can make She will go into.
the most of that 2025 with a clean.
opportunity.
