U.S. Open: Even in defeat, Coco Gauff seems well suited to address this latest challenge
Coco Gauff returns serve from Emma Navarro during their U.S. Open match on Sunday, Sept. 1, 2024. at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center. Credit: Errol Anderson
When players walk through the tunnel and onto the court at Arthur Ashe Stadium, a bronze plaque reminds them that pressure is a privilege.
That, of course, is the phrase often uttered by Billie Jean King, who has added that the presence of pressure means the presence of opportunity. After all, the weight of vying for something can only mean that it also is obtainable.
But Coco Gauff knows that pressure is other things, too. It’s thousands of eyes on you, it’s routinely getting compared to Serena Williams, it’s the knowledge that you came into the U.S. Open with a title to defend, and a similar knowledge that you suffered a string of difficult losses in July and August. It’s looking across the court and seeing Emma Navarro, who ousted you at Wimbledon last month.
So on Sunday, as the third-seeded Gauff committed unforced error after unforced error during her 6-3, 4-6, 6-3 fourth-round loss to the 13th-seeded Navarro, the privilege of pressure might have felt more like poisoned chalice, particularly as she struggled with the mechanics of a serve that caused her to double fault 19 times.
She also committed 60 unforced errors, with 29 on her forehand, including the one to clinch Navarro’s match point. She had 11 double faults in the third set alone, and after going down 30-40 in the final game, she bounced her racket off the hard courts in frustration.
“I think it’s sometimes more of an emotional, mental thing,” she said of her serve. “If I go out on the practice court right now, I’ll make like 30 serves in a row. I’ve done it before. So I think it’s also just kind of a mental hurdle that I have to get over. I definitely want to look at other things because I don’t want to lose matches like this anymore.”
Even in defeat, though, Gauff seemed suited to address this particular challenge. Though Sunday had echoes of her fourth-round loss at Wimbledon — when she said she “mentally just literally collapsed on the court. I was very frustrated” — there were also improvements, including a strong second set.
“I think I was mentally better,” she said. “That’s how I got to the third set.”
She’ll need that fortitude and more for the journey ahead, though. Gauff said she is open to having another coach look at her mechanics, particularly given that her own tweaking didn’t seem to work much this tournament. She has been studiously working on her serve, heading to the practice courts after her last two matches.
She also hasn’t advanced beyond the fourth round since falling to eventual winner Jessica Pegula at the Berlin Open in late June. The next four tournaments heading into the U.S. Open were the loss at Wimbledon, third-round ousters at the Olympics and in Toronto, and a second-round stunner at the Cincinnati Open.
At 20, and with her resume, this is far from catastrophic, though it is disappointing, considering the U.S. Open already has lost plenty of star power thanks to early exits by Novak Djokovic and Carlos Alcaraz.
Despite this, though, Gauff took a fairly sanguine view of her summer.
“It’s not the [one] that I want, but I feel like there are 70 other players in the draw that would love to have the summer I had, even though it’s probably my least” successful one, she said. “So many people want to be in the forefront and so many people want to make the Olympics. So many people want to be flag bearers,” as she was this summer, when she became the youngest American ever to earn the honor.
“It’s perspective,” she said. “Obviously, since I’m wanting to reach a different level, it’s disappointing, but I’m not going to beat myself up and be like, ‘This is so bad.’ Yeah, I expect better, but at the end of the day, it happened, and I know I can turn it around.”
It’s a balanced viewpoint and one that likely will serve her well as she tries to climb out of this rut and continue toward the heights so many expect her to reach.
After all, she knows too well that pressure is a privilege, but even at her young age, Gauff knows perspective is a privilege, too.
Laura Albanese is a reporter, feature writer and columnist covering local professional sports teams; she began at Newsday in 2007 as an intern.
