Wednesday, March 12, 2025

Coco Gauff

Press Conference

B. BENCIC/C. Gauff

3-6, 6-3, 6-4

THE MODERATOR: Coco, good battle today. What do you think made the difference?

COCO GAUFF: Yeah, I mean, I had a lot of opportunities, especially in the last two games, but she's a tough opponent. She's coming off playing some great tennis.

Yeah, hopefully I can do better next time.

THE MODERATOR: Questions.

Q. Coco, are you able to pinpoint what the reason is with some of the results of late? I think there is obviously a lot of expectation of where you are, the way you have finished 2024, and start of this year things have not gone according to plan as far as results are concerned. Are you concerned, and are you able to pinpoint reasons for, let's say for your standard, this bit of a slump?

COCO GAUFF: I mean, overall I feel like, I mean, it's not as bad as it seems, I guess. I mean, start of the year, I did well at United Cup and lost to Paula fourth round in Australia. Middle East wasn't a great swing for me.

Here, I mean, I lost 6-4 in the third in the fourth round against a tough opponent who's coming off a 500 win. Obviously I wanted to do better, want to have better results, but it's not something I can crush myself on. I'm trying to do better, and that's all I can do. I'm trying to work on things in practice, and unfortunately right now it's not translating how I'd like to.

Q. How do you assess Belinda's game at the moment? You played her at the Australian Open. Obviously she's coming back from having a baby. How would you assess her game?

COCO GAUFF: Yeah, she's playing very well. Yeah, I think today the difference was she's a bit more aggressive than I was. In those moments in Australia, I stepped up my game to be more aggressive the last two sets. She kind of did that to me.

Overall, like, the match is kind of won and lost off of very small margins. Today didn't go my way, but I think there is a lot of things I can improve on to do better next time.

Q. You made the quarters in Australia, not...

COCO GAUFF: Oh, quarters, thanks.

Q. Don't sell yourself short.

COCO GAUFF: Thanks (smiling).

Q. You seemed to have worked out something with your serve today. It was a lot steadier, especially in the pressure moments. You had said the other day it was the new motion, and then you have talked in the past about the grip. Is it the grip that causes the change in the motion? Can you sort of explain what it was and what it is today that made it a lot more solid?

COCO GAUFF: I think it's all connected. We kind of changed a lot of things with the serve. I don't want to get into specifics of it, but yeah, I mean, I went on the practice court after the first day and then after the other day.

You know, I still think I could have served better. Was obviously more consistent, but definitely want to get more aggressive with it. It was kind of one of those things where I started the tournament not serving well, so it's more so just trying to get it in.

That doesn't mean -- I mean, I hit some good serves today, but I feel like especially in that last game, up 40-Love, I probably could have went bigger in those moments. But yeah, like you said, it is an improvement, and hopefully can continue to do better from here.

Q. Usually we talk about your birthday here and some of us remember when you first were getting your license or you put the teenage years behind you. What will it mean to you to become 21, an adult?

COCO GAUFF: Yeah, I don't know. I mean, I don't know if I'm going to feel any different. But, yeah, I think it's an exciting age to turn.

Usually I don't really care, I guess, when my birthday is, but I am excited, and obviously I would have loved to be out here tomorrow. But I'm going to try to either get home tonight or tomorrow just to celebrate with my family.

Q. You had also said the other day about being aggressive just off the ground and sort of going after the first ball that you saw. Is there difficulty in sort of finding that right balance? Was that in play at all for you today? Could there potentially be an overcorrection at times of being too aggressive?

COCO GAUFF: I mean, yes and no. I felt like today, I mean, against Belinda is tough, because she hits the ball so low and flat, so it's tough to kind of hit how I would like, but, I mean, I made some errors in the last game and also in the game before.

I don't know. This feels like one of those things where I kind of have to go for more margin. Also, at the same time, the match was 4-All in the third set, and we were kind of holding serve, both of us were holding serve. Maybe on the far side the wind was more with me, so I think maybe I overplayed those balls for sure. I felt like on the closer side to my box, it was definitely against the wind and it was harder to hit through.

So, yeah, I think there is a balance in it, but I think today, honestly, I felt like I let her dictate a lot from the backhand corner. I think that's something that I don't want to happen, especially I feel like that's the corner I should be more so dictating. Yeah.