BNP PARIBAS OPEN

March 15, 2023

Coco Gauff

Press Conference

A. SABALENKA/C. Gauff

6-4, 6-0

THE MODERATOR: Can you give us some reflections on the match and the tournament overall.

COCO GAUFF: Yeah, overall it was a good tournament for me. I had some good wins. Obviously today didn't go how I wanted to, but she played really great tennis, and you can definitely see the improvement since the last time I played her. I think I just have to figure out a way how to combat that for the next time I play her.

THE MODERATOR: Questions.

Q. What are some of the improvements and how did they play out in the match?

COCO GAUFF: Definitely obviously I think the biggest one is her serve. We already knew she had a great serve but the double faults less, and then her consistency has gotten a lot better.

I think that I need to improve on the def. I think I hit a lot of balls shorter, especially like later in the rally so she was able to kind of hit me off the court.

I think just problem-solving in general, she's the type of player that's not easy to beat. So I think you just kind of have to problem-solve as the points go on in the match.

Q. We talked a little bit about the consistency that you've been showing at the start of the season and everything. When you do kind of come up against maybe higher-ranked opponents or opponents that you don't -- you're not taking bad losses is my point. But how do you kind of, yourself, kind of process where you are then right now in terms of you're taking care of business in the early rounds and then coming up against these big players and seeing the challenge that's there?

COCO GAUFF: Yeah, definitely. I mean, I think right now I feel like I'm playing where my ranking is, and I don't want to stay, you know, just inside the top 10. I want to be No. 1. So I think I have to do better when it comes to these type of matchups when I'm playing higher-ranked players or in general even players who are slightly ranked lower than me, I think I need to do better in those matchups.

I think that's the reason why. You know, getting late into these tournaments but falling up short. I think I just need to take care of the details because the details definitely start to show when you're playing against higher-ranked players and they know how to capitalize off that.

So I think I need to improve certain areas of my game so that it's not so easy to capitalize off of it.

Q. Where does it fit into your problem-solving during a match to be at a tournament where your team can talk to you?

COCO GAUFF: I think it's something that finding the balance I think, and I still haven't found it. Today I was looking for more feedback from my team than I normally do. But it's definitely a difference.

For me, I really usually do well in the problem-solving aspect of matches. There's a lot of times where I come back from down. But sometimes where I feel like I'm more emotional and I probably can't see clearly. It's not that I don't know what I need to do, maybe I know how I'm feeling in the moment, I think I need some direction.

So it definitely helps having my team be able to talk to me. But, you know, sometimes you don't get the response you want (smiling). It's not their fault. I think you're just seeing red. Everything is going bad.

I think that's what I felt like today in the second set.

Q. Was there some thing you thought of doing differently or was it just too much, she was playing so well and hitting deep and hard and down the line, just feels like a runaway train at a certain point?

COCO GAUFF: I mean, the first set, I mean, I played the first bad, first game in the set, and I think there was a point at 30-All where I missed a dropshot. I think those two areas in the first set maybe changed the way that that set went.

The second set I think it was a combination of her, you know -- she didn't give me any free points and I think I was also giving away free points and not hitting the ball as deep as I need to. Especially when you're playing her, you've got to get the ball deep.

So I think it was a mixture of everything. I mean, the first set I think was a high quality set from both of us. But like I said, there is those details that I think I need to work on. Maybe it might not have changed the result, who knows, but it definitely would have been giving myself a better chance to do better if I took care of those.

Q. When the match doesn't go the way that you want, is it nicer that at Indian Wells you get to go home next, that you're going back to Miami and not a completely different country?

COCO GAUFF: Yeah, definitely helps when you just get bageled, so it's nice to go home and I guess reset. Yeah, definitely, it's the only really stop on tour where that happens. I mean, I'm getting lucky, Billie Jean King Cup is also home, but that's the only stop I guess where that happens.

But it would have been even better to come off a win coming home, that would have been even sweeter. It's a good way either way. So yeah, I'm glad that Miami is next and I'm looking forward to that.

Q. Looks like you filmed your cameo? Is it a cameo?

COCO GAUFF: Yeah.

Q. What was that experience like of being on a TV set and acting?

COCO GAUFF: It was a very different experience. We did it in December during the offseason. It wasn't first going to work, because I think the first date they had me was during the WTA Finals. Obviously I wasn't going to miss that.

Yeah, during the offseason we were able to figure out a date. I don't know if I'll do it again. It was like all day, and I didn't realize how many times you have to do a scene over and over and over again. Drills in tennis are repetitive, but I think that's even more repetitive.

It was cool. I would do it again because of the people I met, but I don't think I would do it again because of the work. But if I can meet cool people, yeah, I would keep doing. Huge respect to all the actors, people in that business. It's definitely not as easy as it seems on the TV.

Q. So we're not going to lose you to Hollywood?

COCO GAUFF: No, definitely not (smiling). Definitely not.

Q. Did the acting help your drilling? Did you feel like, Oh, this is good, I'll hit 100 forehands now?

COCO GAUFF: Honestly, a little bit in the offseason, yeah, because I was grinding during the offseason, and after doing that, I was more tired than like seven hours of training. I was beat up. Honestly, yeah, it tested my patience a lot (smiling).