INTERNAZIONALI BNL D'ITALIA

September 15, 2020

Coco Gauff

Press Conference

C. GAUFF/O. Jabeur

6-4, 6-3

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. I want to know how do you feel after your first match here? What do you expect for this Italian Premier?

COCO GAUFF: Yeah, definitely happy to get a win today, especially after a couple of tough losses back in New York.

I'm just happy to be playing. I think Ons played great today. She's a tricky player, because she definitely changes the ball a little bit, so I knew it was going to be tough. So to get a win over her on clay is definitely really good.

Q. Down 2-4 in that first set, what do you think you were able to do to turn that around? Once you were able to level that up, it seemed like your match from there.

COCO GAUFF: Yeah, I think I was just trying to stay in the match, and I knew that I was able to come back whenever I needed to. I was familiar with her game, so I knew her tendencies, so I just tried to play towards her weaknesses using my strengths.

Q. Just coming out of New York and moving very quickly to come over to Europe and play on clay, how did you reflect on the summer swing for you, and what do you take out of all of that into this section of the season?

COCO GAUFF: I think I just learned a lot about myself as a player, especially since it was my first couple of tournaments back since the break. I wasn't feeling like the most comfortable on court, but I think now I really found my way. I was definitely able to reflect after US Open and learn and practice and try to get ready for the clay season.

Regarding the close turnaround, I mean, I think physically I'm at my best shape, so it wasn't really too difficult to change surfaces.

Q. How difficult is for you to play on clay? Because you weren't born I think on clay, as far as I know. This is particularly, I think, slow clay compared to the American clay. The second thing is what was your reaction to see Naomi Osaka winning and every day doing her masks and doing all what she did to fight in a way and for Black Lives Matter and for spread her way to promote her ideas in the world?

COCO GAUFF: Yeah, for the first question, regarding playing on clay, it wasn't -- I mean, I haven't played on clay in over a year, but to be honest, I feel quite comfortable on clay. I mean, in my junior career I had good results on clay. So I was pretty used to it.

I go to Patrick Mouratoglou Tennis Academy a lot. I have been going there since I was 10. I'm quite used to the red clay.

Regarding Naomi, I'm super happy that she won and super happy that she was able to raise awareness while she was competing. I think that her masks definitely raised conversations in the tennis world about racial equality.

I think that it's very important to use her platform, and I think she did a good job with doing that. Big congratulations to her, and she definitely deserved it.

Q. I'd like to know also if you had the time to go to Parma or you're thinking to go to Parma to see the Barilla. And if you have been in already some Italian restaurant and you order pasta or what kind of food you eat, and if you want express some particular pasta, in case?

COCO GAUFF: We're not really allowed to go anywhere, but I have been ordering delivery. I've been ordering a lot of pasta.

I'm not sure my favorite style of pasta. Honestly, I like all the pasta, and it definitely tastes better in Italy than it does in the U.S. I think in America we overcook our pasta a little bit, so I like it here.

I probably won't be able to go to Parma because of Corona, but if Corona wasn't here, I definitely would have gone. I was able to visit the Barilla headquarters last year. Right after my Wimbledon, we took a one-day trip to Parma and it's really cool. It was cool to see how the pasta is made in the factory.

Hopefully next year when Corona is hopefully not here anymore, I'll be able to go visit the headquarters again.

Q. You're not afraid to get fat?

COCO GAUFF: (Smiling.) No, I play a lot of tennis, so actually pasta is good for recovery. It's a good thing.