'I'm very disappointed with myself': Coco Gauff shares why she is not happy with her performance despite cementing Canadian Open fourth-round spot

America’s Coco Gauff is going through an interesting patch in her career. The 21-year-old is currently taking part in the Canadian Open in Montreal, where she cemented her spot in the fourth round after beating Veronika Kudermetova with a score of 4-6, 7-5, 6-2.

Being the top-seeded player in the singles category, Gauff was expected to have a good outing, but the results do not show a clear picture. In her first match of the competition against fellow countrywoman Danielle Collins, Gauff made 23 double faults, which was the joint-most by a player in a women’s singles match in a WTA event since 2011.

On Thursday, against Russia’s Kudermetova, Gauff improved those numbers slightly but still ended up making 14 double faults. In total, Gauff has made 37 double faults in her first two matches, which is the most by a player in the competition. Talking after the match, Gauff admitted that despite the wins, she understands that her performances have not been good enough. Gauff stated that she is ‘disappointed’ with herself for committing so many double faults in the match.

"Maybe I got a little mad at myself, so I could relax a little more,” she said after the match. “It's been tough matches here, but I'm happy to have overcome this one today. My energy level is there. I'm not yet at the point where these matches wear me out physically. I was training in Florida for three weeks, with three-hour sessions, three and a half hours, plus physical training at 32 degrees and with humidity. So, it's not as long as it seems, but I would love for these matches to last less than two hours, although if that's what it takes, I'm here to endure. There are positives and negatives."

She continued by saying: "Obviously, I'm very disappointed with myself regarding that part of the game just because I didn't play in Washington to work on it, make changes, and do well in training, where I was serving very well, so I would like that to transfer to the match. The positive is that I'm winning these matches literally having a part of my game on crutches. It's as if I could lean on both feet, then I can only imagine it would be much easier and much simpler for me. There are two things I can take from it. I don't want to lead that statistic, and I want to improve. I know I'll probably never be free of double faults, but if I could reduce it to 2% or 3%, that would make a big difference and would make these matches much easier. The fact that I'm winning matches and finding ways to win with that is undoubtedly a positive thing."

Rare Positive

Gauff then went on to highlight some of the positives for her, which were not committing as many double faults while playing in the doubles events. "Yesterday, in doubles, I didn't commit any double faults, so that was good,” said Gauff. “It's definitely a positive thing. I would like to serve in singles as I do in doubles, but the reason I play is precisely to put myself under pressure. It's strange. I feel more pressure serving in doubles than in singles because I don't want to sit here and make my partner lose the match. I'm trying to transfer that mentality to singles, but it's not that easy."

Gauff will next go up against Canada’s young sensation Victoria Mboko. The 18-year-old defeated Marie Bouzkova of the Czech Republic in the third round with a score of 1-6, 6-3, 6-0. This will be only the second meeting between the players. In the only previous meeting, which took place in the round of 64 of the Rome Masters, it was Gauff who came out on top with a score of 3-6, 6-2, 6-1.

America’s Coco Gauff is going through an interesting patch in her career. The 21-year-old is currently taking part in the National Bank Open in Montreal where she cemented her spot in the fourth round after beating Veronika Kudermetova with a score of 4-6, 7-5, 6-2. Being the top-seeded player in the singles category, Gauff was expected to have a good outings but the results does not show a clear picture. In her first match of the competition against fellow countrywoman Danielle Collins, Gauff made 23 double faults, which was the joint-most by a player in a women’s singles match in a WTA event since 2011. On Thursday, against Russia’s Kudermetova, Gauff improved those numbers slightly but still ended up making 14 double faults. In total, Gauff has made 37 double faults in her first two matches which is the most by a player in the competition. Talking after the match, Gauff admitted that despite the wins, she understands that her performances have not been good enough. Gauff stated that she is ‘disappointed’ with herself for committing so many double faults in the match. "Maybe I got a little mad at myself, so I could relax a little more,” she said after the match. “It's been tough matches here, but I'm happy to have overcome this one today. My energy level is there. I'm not yet at the point where these matches wear me out physically. I was training in Florida for three weeks, with three-hour sessions, three and a half hours, plus physical training at 32 degrees and with humidity. So, it's not as long as it seems, but I would love for these matches to last less than two hours, although if that's what it takes, I'm here to endure. There are positives and negatives. Obviously, I'm very disappointed with myself regarding that part of the game just because I didn't play in Washington to work on it, make changes, and do well in training, where I was serving very well, so I would like that to transfer to the match. The positive is that I'm winning these matches literally having a part of my game on crutches. It's as if I could lean on both feet, then I can only imagine it would be much easier and much simpler for me. There are two things I can take from it. I don't want to lead that statistic, and I want to improve. I know I'll probably never be free of double faults, but if I could reduce it to 2% or 3%, that would make a big difference and would make these matches much easier. The fact that I'm winning matches and finding ways to win with that is undoubtedly a positive thing." Gauff then went on to highlight some of the positives for her which was not committing as many double faults while playing in the doubles events. "Yesterday, in doubles, I didn't commit any double faults, so that was good,” said Gauff. “It's definitely a positive thing. I would like to serve in singles as I do in doubles, but the reason I play is precisely to put myself under pressure. It's strange. I feel more pressure serving in doubles than in singles because I don't want to sit here and make my partner lose the match. I'm trying to transfer that mentality to singles, but it's not that easy." Gauff will next go up against Canada’s young sensation Victoria Mboko. The 18-year-old defeated Marie Bouzkova of the Czech Republic in the third round with a score of 1-6, 6-3, 6-0. This will be only the second meeting between both players. In the only previous meeting, which took place in the round of 64 of the Rome Masters, it was Gauff who came out on top with a score of 3-6, 6-2, 6-1.