Coco Gauff Makes Heartbreaking Confession on French Open Admitting Her Biggest Scare: “Very Anxious”

After becoming the youngest tennis player to win a match at Wimbledon (since 1991) in 2019, Coco Gauff created yet another historic moment in her career a few years later. She reached the finals of the French Open in 2022. Before this, Gauff had already won the French Open title in her junior career in 2018, so perhaps she was very anxious to repeat a similar feat at the senior level as well. But Iga Swiatek had other ideas! The Pole shattered the dreams of the teenager by defeating her in straight sets (6-1,6-3). While Swiatek claimed up into the player’s box to celebrate the victory with her team, Gauff broke down in tears on her chair. Following that defeat, the American said, “This is a first time for me so I’ll try to get through this.” Later on, although she got success at the 2023 US Open, Gauff can still feel the pain of getting her dream shattered by such a fine margin at the biggest clay court tournament.

Coco Gauff looked a bit nervous right from the start of that epic final in 2022. She served a double fault as she lost her opening service game. Throughout the match, Gauff his only 2 aces but committed three double faults. Before that match, the American hadn’t dropped any sets in her previous six matches, the expectations were quite high for her in this match.

But perhaps those expectations led to an extra burden on those young shoulders. Recalling that moment a couple of days ago in an interview with Rolex, Gauff said, “You know my biggest dream was to win a Grand Slam at that time.“

Analyzing what really went wrong in that match, Coco Gauff said, “I was very anxious, not wanting to disappoint people. I think I put too much pressure on myself not swinging through on any of those shots. It was a heartbreaking match. It felt like seeing your dreams kind of snatched away.“

However, despite that loss, she earned huge praise from Iga Swiatek after that match. The Pole told her, “First of all, I just want to congratulate you, you’re doing an amazing job, I can see each month you’re progressing. you will find it and you will be there. When I was your age, I had my first year on tour & I had no idea what I was doing, basically.“

Together Iga Swiatek and Coco Gauff have now faced each other 15 times in their careers so far. Although the Pole has got the edge over the American eleven times, it’s Gauff who had the last laugh in their previous three meetings. Swiatek has been struggling a bit with her form this season. Does this give Gauff an edge over the defending champion at the 2025 French Open?

Swiatek hasn’t won any WTA event since lifting the French Open title last year, but still, Gauff doesn’t intend to rule out the four-time champion’s chances at this year’s mega event. She said, “For sure it changes some things when you see someone who won Roland Garros that many times not having the best results. I think it definitely gives players a lot of confidence when they come to face her. You also have to respect that she’s a four-time champion at Roland Garros. I always think if someone wins a tournament that many times, regardless of what shape they’re in, they can definitely figure out a way to win again. If I were to play her at the French Open, I would throw away the results in Madrid, not even think about it, expect her to play her best tennis.“

Coco Gauff reached the SF of the French Open last year, but she was then defeated by Swiatek quite comprehensively (2-6,4-6). How optimistic is she and all the other tennis experts about her chances in this season?

Despite knowing her major flaw in recent times, Coco Gauff looks optimistic about her chances at the French Open

Coco Gauff committed 42 double faults in her six matches at the Italian Open. Seeing her constant struggles, several tennis experts have come up with different opinions ahead of her French Open campaign. For example, recently Jimmy Connors made it clear what Gauff’s inner circle has to do to improve her daunting flaw. He looked quite annoyed with Gauff giving away free points during vital moments in her matches. Other tennis legends, like Andy Roddick, Jim Courier, and Rick Macci also highlighted her major flaw recently.

According to Serena Williams’ ex-coach Rennae Stubbs, “If you look at her service motion, she [Coco Gauff] goes onto the front leg as she’s throwing the ball toss-up. There is nowhere to go there. Unless you’re serving and you feel really confident, you better hit it well from that point because you are already coming forward and down on the ball. She’s got to get the rocking motion. But the fact that she’s on her front left foot quickly, I’m like, good luck getting under the ball. Good luck getting kick. Good luck being able to have any kind of a three-quarter serve…“

Even Coco Gauff is well aware of her struggles with her serve. After defeat in Rome, she said, “Yeah, I think it’s both confidence and motivation to do better. Hopefully, I can get to the final in Roland Garros and maybe the ‘third time is a charm’ thing is a real thing. That’s looking so far ahead. Overall I lost to two quality opponents, Aryna in Madrid and Jasmine here. So yeah, I think I have a lot to improve, a lot that I can work on. I made the final with those errors. Made the final maybe not playing my best tennis. It just gives me confidence if I can find that good form heading into Roland Garros, I can do well there.” 

Talking about her chances at the French Open, another former tennis pro, Steve Johnson said Coco Gauff can definitely go into the French Open feeling like she can win the tournament. But can she really do that on her sixth appearance in this mega clay court event? Share your thoughts in the comment box.

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