US OPEN

August 30, 2024

Coco Gauff

Press Conference

C. GAUFF/E. Svitolina

3-6, 6-3, 6-3

THE MODERATOR: Come from behind win. Give us an insight on your reset between set one and set two.

COCO GAUFF: I mean, I feel like I lost, like, eight points in a row at the end of the first set. I don't really know the exact number. Probably more.

So I knew I needed a reset at that point. Yeah, I just went and used the bathroom, changed the bottom half of my clothes, and splashed some water on my face, and felt like a new person coming out.

Yeah, I just didn't want to leave the court with any regrets.

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. I just wondered, you've been on a run of losses against highly-ranked, top-50 opponents. Were you aware of that? How significant then did this victory feel?

COCO GAUFF: No, I wasn't aware of it. I mean, I'm the type of player, that I don't really look at rankings or any of that. I treat everybody the same.

Yeah, but I guess for me, yeah, it was a great win just because I know Elina is a tough player to beat at any stage, but especially a Grand Slam. In the earlier rounds she's done really well the last couple months on tour.

So, yeah, and every time I play her it's a tough match, so I was happy to get through.

Q. You had a few of those comebacks last year on the way to the title here, dropping the first set and turning things around. First, is that in your mind at all? Do you remember having that feeling and being able to do it? Does that help you at all? Also, what do you think is the key for you to be able to keep producing those sorts of comebacks?

COCO GAUFF: No, it was in my mind today. It gave me a lot of confidence just because it felt like déjà vu a little bit. I think I won the first set against Caroline Wozniacki. It felt like that match today, honestly.

They're completely different players, but they kind of play similar in a way. Just making you hit a lot of balls, can hit some winners a couple of times. So I did have déjà vu when it came to that match, so it gave me confidence today for sure.

Q. How different are you feeling the pressure before your first-round match compared to now? Does the pressure of defending kind of dissipate with the wins, or does it ramp up because you're getting deeper in the tournament?

COCO GAUFF: I felt the same throughout the tournament. I feel like I had no pressure. It was pressure, yes, but I didn't feel like it was so much when I started my first round, honestly speaking.

I think I felt nerves, but it felt like normal first-round nerves as I always get in the first round of slams, which last week I always say if this tournament started a week earlier, I felt like it would have been different because I was just in a completely different head space.

Now that I'm in it, I'm just taking it one match at a time. I think from past or last year I've learned that you can't look too far ahead because it's still a long journey, and it's going to be a long journey even on championship point. It's going to feel like a mile away.

Q. When you got the break in the second set, the crowd was right behind you to lift you up. I'm just curious if you could talk about your connection to the crowd and how it might be different on Ashe relative to other courts.

COCO GAUFF: Obviously Ashe is a very American court, and they're always rooting for the American usually, and especially me. So, yeah, they really got behind me.

Also, I think it was the fashion. I think I hit a winner on the return and then another winner on the break point I think. I think that just got them into it.

I felt like I was on the verge of breaking the whole match. That one game in the first set I had 40-15, and I missed two really bad backhand errors. I did feel like I was in it the whole match on the verge of breaking. So finally to do that, I think I obviously had a great reaction, and the crowd just got behind me with that.

Q. Obviously you play Emma next. How much of your match at Wimbledon will you reflect on? What do you take away from that match? How do you know Paige and Azzi, they were sitting in your box today.

COCO GAUFF: With Emma, I feel like that match at Wimbledon I think I mentally just literally collapsed on the court. I was very frustrated, and she played well. That was, I think to me, the best tennis she played, like that tournament.

Obviously, I didn't see her first round, but I watched a little bit her second and third. I think that was like the best she played that week.

Yeah, so I think going into this match, I have to expect her to play her best tennis, and I just need to know that I need to bring it and mentally be there from the beginning to the end because she's going to be a tough opponent.

Yeah, Paige and Azzi, I've known them on social media for a while. Obviously they're very good at what they do in basketball at UConn. I knew that they were coming today, and I got to meet them finally in person after the match. That was the first time I met them in person.

Yeah, they were sitting in my box. It was really cool. I think I got some of the good vibes from them to help me back me through. Paige, I saw Paige and both of them standing up getting out of their seats. So it was great to have that support, and hopefully I can return the favor at one of their games.

Q. All year long you put in a ton of work to prepare for the majors, but when you get to this tournament, how would you describe the degree of work and the type of work you do to go deep?

COCO GAUFF: Yeah, I think for me it's obviously I went out on the practice court after today's match and the day before. It's kind of a balance of saving yourself physically, so you kind of just -- like today I felt like my last match, I didn't serve great. Went and hit serves. Served a lot better today.

Today I felt like I was missing a lot of backhands. Went and hit backhands, and a little bit more serves, and hopefully my next match I do both of them great.

It's kind of just a feeling-based thing. Sometimes I'll spend, like, three, four hours on the court a non-tournament week, but obviously you can't do that during the tournament because you have to physically stay fit for the matches and fresh.

It's kind of just very specific-based, and not a lot of reps, but kind of enough where you feel good about it.

Q. Do you approach this tournament as the defending champion or as a brand-new tournament?

COCO GAUFF: A brand-new tournament. I mean, at the end of the day, I mean, to defend would be great, but I feel like it's an unnecessary amount of pressure to put that on yourself. If anything, I felt more pressure honestly coming into Wimbledon, losing first round the year before, and then trying to not lose first round again.

You know, there was a little bit of pressure maybe two weeks ago, but when you step on the court, you just have that feeling. It's like, okay, I know I can perform really well here. I've done it before in the past, and I'll do it again.

So, yeah, that's been my motto. I know I have the chance to do it again, whether it happens 2024 or years in the future, I think I have the belief that I will do it again.

I take comfort in that knowing even if it doesn't happen this year, that I can do it. Because I felt like last year when I was playing, it wasn't my best tennis at all, and I was able to do it. So I think I'm a better player than I was last year. Yeah, I feel like I have a better chance.

Now, will I do it? We'll see you guys in a couple of -- I don't know. A week from now. No. Seven -- eight days from now, or not (laughing). We'll find out, and I'll find out with you (laughing).

Q. Just sort of two questions about you mentioned your box before. There was a moment in the first set where you just sort of walked away and said, Stop. I'm curious what you were telling them to stop to do. Towards the end, I don't know if you noticed during the changeover, your mother was standing up and dancing in front of 24,000 people. I'm curious if you see that at all.

COCO GAUFF: No, I did not see that. I guess good.

Honestly, no, I think the whole motto of the team is just to have been relaxed. Sometimes I do say stuff out of frustration, but it's not what they're doing because sometimes I'll go to Sal, and I just don't want to hear anything. I just need a reset.

In that moment I was, like, I don't need instruction right now. I just need silence on my end. Because I feel like as a player, you know what you need to do to win. It was just about executing. They were telling me the same thing they were telling me the whole match.

So, no, I didn't see my mom dancing, but yeah, I think for the most part they try to be relaxed. Especially not my team, like my parents and the people in the box. Even I think it was my cousin, she shouted, like, Chin up, crown on, whenever the moments are tough. Yeah, just little things make you smile and make you realize that it is just a game.

Q. You're in contention for the WTA Finals, and I'm wondering, how do you see these particular WTA Finals in terms of how important are they for, first of all, the players to regain trust in the tour after the last couple of editions and have there been conversations between you and other players thinking of what you envision for this first one?

COCO GAUFF: Yeah, hopefully it's a good finals. My last two experiences have not been the best, honestly speaking, with the last two times.

But, yeah, we've been speaking really in contact with leaders from Saudi and also WTA and having a lot of player meetings to make sure it's a great experience for us players and fans, and they have a lot of community outreach things planned.

Just trying to bring more, I guess, awareness to the sport for the girls and guys out there in Saudi. Yeah, I'm looking forward too. I feel like in order to I guess enact a dream or for a kid to see a dream, they have to see it in person. Obviously you guys all saw that video of me a long time ago here.

Hopefully I guess the goal for this to come out and a lot of the people are hoping that there is a player or a kid that comes out from Saudi and able to say, This WTA Finals changed my outlook or made me realize I had a dream or a possibility in this sport. I think that's what tennis is all about.

It's a global sport. Literally we have I don't know how many countries represented in this sport, but probably more so than any sport, honestly. I don't know the stats, but I would like to bet my money on that.

Yeah, it's great to kind of reach parts of the world and bring our community there too.

Q. I saw on TV you said that you wrote in your journal you didn't want to have any regrets before this match. How much do you actually journal, and how helpful is that to your career? I guess, separately, how do you ensure that you don't have any regrets?

COCO GAUFF: I have two journals. I read the Bible every day. I'll do that every day. And then I have a personal one where I just write maybe every other day. I usually do it like the night before I play.

Yeah, I think for me it's just been something I've been trying to do more of. I've always done it, but just do it more frequently because it just kind of holds you accountable for your feelings and your thoughts and the things that you want to do.

Yeah, every match I've been going in, and I just don't want to leave it with any regrets. I want to truly leave it all out there on the court. Because there are matches you go, and you play, and you lose, and you're, like, I mentally wasn't here or there.

There are probably going to be -- I'm going to leave the court regrets and, like, Oh, I wish I made this shot or I wish I made that. That's completely fine because those are things you can't really control in the moment. But I guess more from an emotional and mental approach I don't want to leave any regrets and say I gave it my complete all. At the end of the day that's all I can do.

Q. The way you played in the second and third match against a quality or difficult opponent, is that the best you've played in a while, and does that give you some confidence going forward? What do you take from that?

COCO GAUFF: Yeah, it's for sure -- I guess the hard court swing has definitely been the best match that I've played and won against a high-quality opponent. Yeah, I had to play very good tennis to get out.

There are some moments where she hit shots, and I'm just like, That's just too good. Or you think you hit a good shot against her, and she hits an even better one back. So she is one of the opponents that you have to earn. She never makes it easy.

I think honestly, I'm glad that I had that match because I think it just makes me match-tough and gets me ready probably for future challenges. I know my next round won't be an easy one either. So it is good to have, I guess, this match under my belt as the tournament continues.

Q. I'm just wondering, you're not playing doubles this tournament. I want to know if your routine has changed up? Looking ahead to next year, will you be looking to play more doubles? Just the follow-up, Ben and Frances are currently a set all. I wonder who you have got for that match?

COCO GAUFF: Yeah, doubles. I'm not playing it. It does change my routine. It's nice to have an off day, a real off day.

I probably won't play as much anymore. My goal was to always win a doubles slam. It's kind of one of those things where I'm just, like, I don't know if -- I'll maybe play every now and then. I don't know if I have the motivation to go week in and week out anymore like I was doing it.

Yeah, it is nice mentally to have a break in between, like, not competing and just go out and practice and work on the things. I still want to do mixed maybe once next year, here or Wimby. I feel like it could be nice to win a mixed slam to complete the cabinet, I guess.

But, yeah, and for the Ben and Frances match, I have no idea. They both have been playing great tennis. I watched Frances play in Cincinnati when he beat Holger, and I've watched Ben play the last two matches, and they're both playing I think probably the best they've played all year.

So I definitely think it's going to go five sets I would say. Now, who wins? I don't know. But hopefully it's not too strenuous because they probably most likely will be playing Novak next. That will take a lot of energy too (laughing).