Coco Gauff Says Roland Garros’ Success Overwhelmed Her Performance at Wimbledon Following First Round Loss

Coco Gauff was stunned by Ukraine’s Dayana Yastremska at the Wimbledon Championships on Tuesday (July 1). The American was a strong favorite to win the title after her triumph at the French Open last month. But after the match, she revealed that the title win at the clay-court Grand Slam affected her performance at the All England Club.

Gauff had the best ever run of her career on clay by reaching the final of the Madrid Open and the Italian Open. She then topped it all with a vintage performance against Aryna Sabalenka in the French Open final, coming from behind to beat the World No.1 in three sets. However, after that, she had to fight hard to transition to grass ahead of Wimbledon.

Even though Wimbledon remains the only major tournament that Gauff has never reached the semi-finals, she was placed as a strong favorite to win it. However, her opening match didn’t go as she planned, as she slipped on several occasions in the first set, while Yastremska played fearless tennis, taking risks and hitting powerful groundstrokes.

Gauff hit just six winners, racking up nine double faults and 29 unforced errors, while the Ukrainian star blasted sixteen winners to defeat the World No.2 7-6(3), 6-1. Gauff became the third woman in the Open Era to lose in the first round at Wimbledon just after winning the Roland Garros, joining Justine Henin (2005) and Francesca Schiavone (2010) in the group.

The American star revealed during her press conference after the loss that mentally she was overwhelmed following her Roland Garros triumph. She added that she has learnt a lot from the Wimbledon loss as it is her first experience entering the tournament as French Open champion:

I think a bit of both. I feel like mentally I was a bit overwhelmed with everything that came afterwards. I didn’t feel like I had enough time to celebrate and also get back into it. But it’s the first time in this experience. Coming off a win and having to play at Wimbledon. I definitely learned a lot of what I would and would not do again.

This is the second time that Gauff will exit the Wimbledon Championship in the first round. However, it is worth noting that it was at the tournament that she first earned her Grand Slam breakthrough at just the age of 15 in 2019 after upsetting Venus Williams and then reaching the fourth round.

Coco Gauff reveals what she would have done better before heading to Wimbledon

Coco Gauff ended her grass-court season without a win on the surface. The American star lost in her opening match at the Berlin Tennis Open against Xinyu Wang in straight sets. That did not help Gauff ahead of her match against Dayana Yastremska, who had reached the final of the Nottingham Open and quarter-finals in Eastbourne.