Coco Gauff won many points at this time last year, but a former WTA player, Monica Puig, urged her to forget about it because it was creating unnecessary pressure.
Pressure is ever-present in tennis. Players can't do anything to make it go away, but they have to deal with it. Some do it better than others, and that's what separates the champions from the regular players.
Sometimes, it's not even about skill. Very few would argue that Roger Federer lacks talent compared to Novak Djokovic. Still, many would agree that the latter has been the bigger mental giant over the years, and that's why he won the 2019 Wimbledon, while Federer didn't.
Gauff has a mixed record when it comes to dealing with pressure. Sometimes, she does well, but other times, not so much. Last year's run during the US Open series was a testament to her ability to deal with it.
She won the Citi Open, Cincinnati Open, and US Open. That's not the case this year because she missed the Citi Open due to the Olympics, where she didn't play well. She lost early at the Cincinnati Open, losing to Yulia Putintseva in her first match, and the US Open doesn't look too promising either.
Former WTA player Puig, who talked on the Tennis Channel, urged her to forget about the points and just focus on her play. She knows the pressure as a former player who admitted that she didn't do well when defending points.
"I want to echo what Jon said. You can look at defending points in one of two ways. I was probably on the 'not as a great' side mentality when it came to defending points."
"I always thought I had to win the title or get to the final to stay where I was. You have the other scenario where you start the year from zero and every single tournament is just an opportunity to gain points."
Tennis can be very streaky. Some weeks, a player can play better than others, while in other weeks, they simply run into a player who is having a better week. Those weeks don't align the same way every year, so putting too much emphasis on certain weeks can create unnecessary pressure.
"Let's just face it: you're going to peak in certain weeks. It's not like you have to play your best tennis each and every week. You'll probably have 6-8 great tournaments, and sometimes that's enough."
"For Coco, this is the first time she's defending 3 really big titles back-to-back, and maybe that's affecting her. This is something that she has to deal with."
Overall, it's just a lesson for Gauff, who is still a young player. As bad as things might look right now, there are positives to draw from her recent bad run of form.
"I'm glad she's learning these lessons now rather than later. Hopefully, she can take all the positives from this moment and move past it."
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