AUSTRALIAN OPEN

January 17, 2025

Coco Gauff

Press Conference

C. GAUFF/L. Fernandez

6-4, 6-2

THE MODERATOR: Coco, congrats on making it through. From the outside it looked like an efficient win. How did it feel for you?

COCO GAUFF: Yeah, it felt great. Like you said, it definitely was efficient. I thought I played well. Yeah, I thought it was good quality tennis from both ends.

THE MODERATOR: Questions.

Q. Well done. So is there a point in these Grand Slams as you're working your way through a marathon and not a sprint where you sort of have the first chunk behind you and your mind clicks in in a different way? Is that how it works?

COCO GAUFF: Yeah, I mean, for me I think so. I think I was definitely nervous the first round. I felt really good today out there on the court.

You know, I kind of just approach it like you hope to play great tennis obviously. With how I'm practicing, I feel like I can, but you walk out there, you never know how you're going to feel, how you're going to play, nerves, anything, how your opponent is going to play.

I think it's just not thinking too much about results and trying to do the best you can with each point.

Q. Is keeping on that sort of frame, do you change at all from day to day, like when you get to a fourth, when you get to the second week, you know, are you laughing less, or do you find yourself much more focused?

COCO GAUFF: No, I feel like a loss in the first round and a loss in the semis hurts almost the same. Yeah, no, I think I have learned that just the trophy is so far away. It's almost as distant as it probably feels when you are a junior trying to play this tournament, to be honest, how I would say.

Obviously I have the belief and that's my goal, but I think for me personally the best mindset is to treat it as it being so far away. Because if I think it's closer, I don't know, I just feel like even in the finals, I played two Grand Slam finals, and it still felt like so far away.

The one, first final, I felt close, and I think that's why I got tight and couldn't really overcome the nerves. The second final, it felt so far away, so I was able to play free because I felt like I had so much more work to do.

Honestly, when we shook hands, that's when I kind of got the realization that it was over.

Q. The other day you said you were the OG Fonseca follower. Do you have any familiarity with Learner?

COCO GAUFF: Yeah.

Q. Did you see any clips of last night's match?

COCO GAUFF: I definitely was asleep. I can't take credit for Learner. Honestly I know of him just because being American and everything, but I think I remember watching him, was it US Open last year a little bit? I think it was US Open. But yeah, I didn't know much about him.

Yeah, I mean, I knew he was good. Obviously no one expects him to beat Medvedev or expects a 19-year-old to beat him.

Yeah, obviously he's doing great, and I will definitely be paying attention to him more. It's great to see so many young Americans doing well and young players in general doing well.

Q. What did you do all day today waiting for this?

COCO GAUFF: Same routine. Went to the gym a little bit. Watched tennis. Talked to my boyfriend.

Yeah, I don't really eat room service, order room service. That's about it. When you play at night, it's just like the day feels long, and then all of a sudden, it's like 3:30 and time to leave to go on-site, and then everything just feels fast.

Q. Your last conference you said you know about the TikTok refugee, so I just want to know, did you want to download RedNote? If not, you have this plan to download RedNote to look at what it is?

COCO GAUFF: Yeah, I have tried to download it. For some reason it's not working. I don't know if it's my phone or because I'm in Australia. Yeah, once I figure it out, I'll definitely be on the app if TikTok goes away.

Also, I think it's an opportunity to connect with the Chinese audience. I know in China they asked me to go on another app. I forgot the name, but it was like a big app there. A couple of fans told me to make an account there. I guess I have to eventually do that.

Yeah, I think it's kind of cool from what I have seen on TikTok that everybody is welcoming all the American followers on there. Yeah, I definitely will probably end up making an account, especially for sure I feel like if TikTok goes away in the U.S.