Coco Gauff defends controversial drop shot in Wimbledon semifinal tiebreaker

Coco Gauff was close to her first Wimbledon final, but fell short to Karolina Muchova in a third-set tiebreaker. With Gauff leading 9-8 in the tiebreaker, she decided to land a drop shot that didn’t go over the net. From there, Muchova took advantage and won the set 12-10.

After the match, Gauff was asked about the decision to take the drop shot with the lead, and though she knows it’s something she’ll think about for some time, she’s living with the result.

“I mean, there’s one thing to be like ‘Oh why play a drop shot…’ but then I think about how many points I won off the drop shot,” Gauff said. “So it’s like, yes, people who don’t watch tennis are gonna be like ‘why did you do that?’ But at the end of the day… that’s the choice I made. Was it the right one in that moment? Maybe not. But also if I make it, everyone’s gonna say how clutch of a shot that was.