Coco Gauff gave plenty of credit to her opponent while pinpointing exactly where she felt she was lacking Tuesday night in her surprising first-round loss at Wimbledon in London.
Gauff fell 7-6 (3), 6-1 to unseeded Ukrainian Dayana Yastremska. Gauff was the No. 2 seed in the ladies’ singles draw and was coming off the second Grand Slam victory of her career at the French Open less than a month ago.
Winning the French may have had an impact on Gauff’s preparation for grass-court season, the 21-year-old admitted.
“I feel like mentally I was a little bit overwhelmed with everything that came afterwards,” Gauff said, “so I didn’t feel like I had enough time to celebrate and also get back into it.”
Her only competitive match between Roland Garros and Wimbledon was at the Berlin Open, where she dropped her opener to China’s Xinyu Wang in straight sets.
“I just feel like the surface I maybe could have used more matches. It’s like finding the puzzle,” Gauff said.
“It’s a quick turnaround, so I think just trying to learn on whether it’s better to train more and maybe play Bad Homburg or Eastbourne.”
Gauff badly struggled with her serve Tuesday. She double-faulted nine times, and when she was forced to her second serve she won less than half the points (14 of 32).
All told, she ended the loss with a mere six winners and 29 unforced errors.
“(Yastremska) played great,” Gauff said. “I saw the draw and knew it would be a tough match for me. … I played her on clay, and I think that surface suits me a little better, (and) it was still a tough three-setter. I knew today would be tough.”
Gauff took down World No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus in a three-set final at Roland Garros. She won the 2023 U.S. Open and reached the semifinals of the Australian Open in 2024.
It’s Wimbledon where she has had the least to show for her efforts, even though her breakthrough came there in 2019 when she beat Venus Williams at 15 years old. She stalled out in the fourth round in 2019, 2021 and 2024, never making it further.
“I have faith that if I can make these adjustments, I can do well here,” Gauff said. “I really do want to do well here. I’m not someone who wants to write myself off grass this early in my career, but I definitely need to make changes if I want to be successful here.
“I’m trying to be positive. After the match, I definitely was struggling in the locker room. I don’t like losing.”
–Field Level Media
