Coco Gauff Rejects Idea Of Not Having Fun On Court After Frustrating Indian Wells Start
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Coco Gauff might not be smiling on the tennis court non-stop like Carlos Alcaraz, but she rejected the idea of not having fun after her hard-fought win in Indian Wells.
Gauff started her Indian Wells Open campaign with a three-set win over Moyuka Uchijima. It wasn't a good match from the American player, so much so that she called it her "D tennis" afterward.
The 20-year-old made 74 unforced errors, 21 out of which were double faults. It was just a match in which the 2023 US Open champion wasn't able to find the court as much as she would want to, and that obviously translated into her body language as well. It's difficult not to be frustrated during such a match.
Gauff knew she could play better, and when she missed many balls in a row or when she lost some crucial points, she was frustrated by that, like most tennis players often are.
It's not something new or rarely seen on the tennis courts. In fact, tennis players usually express their frustration quite visibly, as many of them aren't shying away from breaking their rackets.
That's not something Gauff would do too often, but her frustration was still visible in her first match at the WTA 1000 event in Indian Wells. That prompted one of the questions during her post-match press conference.
Gauff was asked whether she found it more challenging to have fun on the tennis courts these days. She's not an inexperienced teenager anymore, and people now have expectations when she steps onto the tennis courts.
But the 2024 WTA Finals champion completely rejected the idea of that being the case. She tried explaining that there are certain matches that are more frustrating, and this was one of them.
"Not really. I think today is just one of those days you just don't feel great on the court. So it's kind of like frustrating in that way, because I was having such great practices this week."
"Yeah, I mean, obviously, I guess in some moments, I'm showing my happiness a bit more than others. Today is just one of those not-feel-good days at all. I don't know. You kind of just want to get better and move on from it."
Gauff also added that she actually feels like she enjoys the sport even more now. She felt the pressure when she was still a teenager, and she's able to have much more fun on the tennis courts these days.
"But as I get older, honestly, I feel like I love the sport more than when I was 17, 18, just because I felt more pressure then because of how I just came and started."
"I think just today is just one of those days where I just did not feel great on the court and because of the last couple of weeks, I'm pretty hard on myself. I just wanted to do better."
