Coco Gauff blazed into the French Open semifinals after a terrific win over Ons Jabeur. The 20-year-old has made it to 4 consecutive French Open semi-finals before turning 21 – a record that even Serena Williams doesn’t have. But Gauff failed to overcome her long-time archrival Iga Swiatek at the big stage once again on Friday. The outspoken American made a comment which surely raised eyebrows before the match and that has come back to hurt her badly.
In context to the players Swiatek beat convincingly leading up to their semi-final and the fact that the Polish star is leading their one-sided rivalry, Gauff was quoted as saying to the media:
“It doesn’t mean anything. Maybe I could lose with the same score, maybe not, but I’m just going to go in and just try to win. I have nothing to lose. All the pressure is on her.”
“I have nothing to lose. All the pressure is on her.”
Coco Gauff eyes a rematch with Iga Swiatek.
— US Open Tennis (@usopen) June 5, 2024
That last line seemed as if it was one of Gauff’s tricks to play mind games with the defending champion. However, as it turned out on Friday, Gauff was the one who had a lot to prove and failed at it again.
Iga Swiatek has a one-sided domination over Coco Gauff in their rivalry, sort of like the Serena Williams-Maria Sharapova rivalry. Their head-to-head stands at 11-1 now in favor of the World No.1, with Gauff winning her only match at the Cincinnati Open last year.
The lesson here for Coco Gauff to learn is that she needs to be mindful of not making provocative comments against her opponents and avoid playing such mind games. This is even though the American youngster is liked for being honest.
Is Coco Gauff Developing a Mental Block With Her Recent Performances?
Coco Gauff was very confident about winning the French Open after her impressive outings in the past French Open editions. 2024 clay swing. Gauff had a decent 2024 clay swing as well, making it to the quarterfinals of the Stuttgart Open, Round of 16 at the Madrid Open and the semifinals of the Italian Open.
Even if it is a fact that the American women’s No.1 player still has a lot of tennis ahead of her, the French Open 2024 semi-final loss would be considered as a failure by most of her fans. And there is a pattern of ‘failures’ which is developing and that could be worrying for Gauff herself.
In the Australian Open 2024, Coco Gauff was backed by many to win consecutive hard court Grand Slams after the US Open 2024. But the American lost to the eventual champion, Aryna Sabalenka in the semifinals there too, in straight sets.
Gauff’s big-match nerves are now questionable since she has failed to make it to the finals of any tournament since her ASB Classic title win in January 2024. It is never easy to sustain success in tennis. But she had created sky-high expectations because of being such a precocious talent even before she turned 20, that more eyes have been on her. This means more pressure to deliver and the stakes get higher as tournaments reach the final week or few days.
It could result in Coco Gauff developing a mental block of not believing in herself subconsciously before a big match and top rivals like Iga Swiatek, Aryna Sabalenka and Elena Rybakina. That could be a huge concern for coach Brad Gilbert and his team and something they must work on before she is fit and ready to contest for the Wimbledon 2024 title in few weeks’ time.
