Gauff Reveals She Broke Her First WTA Trophy After Winning As Lucky Loser
WTA
Coco Gauff is gearing up for another Wimbledon and leading up to it the teenager revealed that she actually broke her first-ever WTA trophy won.
Gauff has had a rather interesting season so far that started with a WTA trophy at her first vent. Since then there hasn't been a single final with the American coming one match from a final in Eastbourne last week. She faced compatriot Madison Keys but didn't prove good enough to win the match as Keys ended up with the trophy instead.
Wimbledon should be a good event for her, especially after a recent surge in her level after some questionable performances leading up to the event. Speaking ahead of the event, Gauff admitted that she actually broke her first trophy won.
It happened in October of 2019 when Gauff was still a 15-year-old. She entered the main draw of the Linz Open as a lucky loser only to win the trophy by beating Jelena Ostapenko in the final of the tournament.
I remember that was my first title. It was actually Maria Sakkari pulled out, got the opportunity for me to play. Obviously I think she was hurt. I remember my dad telling me - I found out 20 or 30 minutes before the match - he was like, You can't lose twice. We just laughed at it. I don't think we ever thought we would win the tournament.
But, yeah, that was a crazy moment. I didn't think in Linz, Austria, out of all the places, that would be my first title. But, yeah, it was a real cool moment.
Not many players ever won a trophy as a lucky loser but Gauff managed to get it done. The American has since added two more trophies though there was a two-year gap between the Linz title and her next one in Parma.
She remembers that event well because she broke the trophy on the day of winning it and it's actually still broken. She tried to fix it with glue but failed with the event offering to fix the trophy for her. Gauff declined opting to keep it broken as a memento.
I actually broke the trophy that same day (smiling). Yeah, I remember they were, like, taking pictures. I was trying to hide the broken piece. It's still not fixed to this day. I tried to fix it with nail glue.
The tournament offered to fix it for me. I was just like, You know, it's a memory, I think I'm going to keep it like that (smiling).
