ADELAIDE INTERNATIONAL

February 24, 2021

Coco Gauff

Press Conference

C. GAUFF/P. Martic

5-7, 6-3, 6-4

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. I thought your win was first rate. You looked really composed when you were serving out the match. Do you get nervous or do you just hide it really well?

COCO GAUFF: Yeah, I was definitely nervous serving out the match, especially, I think it was yesterday, I had an opportunity to serve out, I believe, yeah, the match and I didn't do it. So today I was nervous and I think that's where that double fault 3-Love came from, but I kind of got myself settled down and went to the towel to calm myself down.

Q. You had gone from playing almost no matches over the past year to playing an awful lot of matches in quick succession. How do you prepare and how do you cope with playing so much matches day after day, what are you having to do differently?

COCO GAUFF: Really nothing too different. Lucky for me I'm still young, so I guess I don't feel as much on the body as other players might. So just take advantage of that. But I love to be on the court and I love to play, so I'm really hoping -- I guess tennis is my way of coping with life in general, so playing matches is me coping, I guess.

Q. After the match you said on court that you hope you'll keep winning so you can go and visit Adelaide. Are you aware that there's the big festival in Fringe on at the moment?

COCO GAUFF: Oh, I didn't know that. I now became aware of that. But, yeah, I mean, I don't know much about Adelaide, because it's my first time coming here, but hopefully like if I'm still in the tournament and still winning I saw that they have a sign for like these Segway tours that you can take on the scooter and go around the city and tour and that's what I want to do. Also they have like these paddle boats on the river and I really want to do that too.

Q. Each year at this time of year they have a big Fringe festival which is comedy, dance acts, singing, all sorts of things. Good shows, about 30 minutes each, and it's really, really worthwhile going to. So I would recommend that.

COCO GAUFF: I will try.

Q. I notice you in Melbourne last couple of weeks you had Patrick Mouratoglou looking on and helping by the side of the court. I know your dad coaches you, but can you explain the relationship with Patrick as well, please?

COCO GAUFF: Yeah, Patrick, he's someone that my dad and I look to for advice. He obviously has more experience and is working with the best player to ever play, so, I mean, not bad to have a guy like that in your corner. And, yeah, whenever we're at the same tournament he tries to come to my practices and watch me play. And he just gives me advice on the little details like technique and strategy and just overall just helps me and helps my dad be a better coach.

Q. He coaches Serena as well. Have you had much chance to practice or to hit with Serena in the past?

COCO GAUFF: No, I only hit with her one time, it was at Fed Cup, I was lucky enough to get on the Fed Cup team, so I was able to, that was my first time practicing with her. Yeah, but normally, in general, players tend to practice on their own on tour, especially Serena, so that was my only opportunity.

Q. How did you get on? How did it feel?

COCO GAUFF: It felt really good. I was nervous at first, just because like I think she was warming up for a match and I didn't want to mess up her warmup for her, but I knew as long as I got the ball on the court I would be fine and I got the ball on the court so it was fine.

Q. What about the Adelaide International in terms of, obviously you're into the last eight now, so when you get to this stage of a tournament is it a case of just focusing on the next match or are you thinking, hey, I'm in with a chance of actually winning this?

COCO GAUFF: I think I've just been taking it one match at a time, to be honest. I go into every tournament thinking that I can win and obviously that's, that's impossible to have a perfect record, but I go into every tournament believing that I can win. So I try not to think far ahead in the match, at least I just try to focus on my next match, just because you have to get through that before you can get to the finals and just take it one match at a time.

Q. I think you've got Shelby Rogers next. You haven't played her before, I know that, but do you know much about her? Have you met her, have you dealt with her at all?

COCO GAUFF: Yeah, I've known Shelby for a couple years now and she lives in the same city as I do, so we practice together a couple times. So we're both familiar with each other's games. I know she's a big hitter and she hits the ball pretty flat, goes for big shots. So we, yeah, we know each other's games pretty well and, yeah, it will be interesting to see how it goes. I'm just going to go out there and have fun.

Q. You're backhand down the line today was particularly successful. Is that your money shot? Is that your favorite shot?

COCO GAUFF: No, it's not really my favorite. Actually, I defer between favorite shots. Normally I will try to tend to guard my backhand cross, because my statistics say I go across more on the backhand. But, I mean, it's fine for me because it opens up the line, which I like that shot too. It gives me opportunity to go to the net.

Q. Was it breezy today? It looked like you had a bit of trouble with some of your serves. Was that a factor?

COCO GAUFF: Yeah, definitely with the wind it's a little bit weird, just because it's not like the roof, so it's not like -- the wind feels almost like a tunnel, like, because there's the roof and the wind's going like that (Indicating) under the roof, so it's a little bit different.

I'm from Florida so I'm used to practicing in windy conditions but normally on an open court, but, yeah, it's definitely a little strange playing on a court that has a half roof. It was fine at the end.

Definitely on the toss, I feel like it affected both of us, on the toss because we were both catching over and over again, trying to get a good toss.

Q. You had played all your other matches on outside courts. It seemed that the standard court is that bit quicker. Is that what you found in the first set or was that a factor?

COCO GAUFF: Yeah, I played my first round quallies on center court so I was able to see the difference. But for sure from the practice courts or outside courts to center, I think center's a little bit quicker, but I don't think it was really much of a factor because at the end of the day you have to adjust in general. And so I already knew how that court played just from my first round quallies. So, yeah, it wasn't that much of a factor, just more me making mistakes a lot in the first set.