Coco Gauff promised to change her mentality after yet another disappointing loss to Potapova who 'stole' the win from Gauff.
Coco Gauff has been too reliant on her quickness and defensive prowess in recent months which lost her quite a few winnable matches. Yesterday was another one as Gauff had the chance to finish up the match with a 5-3 lead in the second set.
She stepped up to serve but didn't show a glimpse of aggressiveness or decisiveness to win the match. She waited for Potapova to give it away and she never did. Instead, the Russian took control of the match and proceeded to dominate Gauff for the remainder of the match.
I think that's kind of been where I've been messing up in all my matches this year. All the ones I've lost I think I lost because of that. I think [my defense] should be more used as a tool in a toolbox than as a weapon.
Asked what needs to change Gauff gave a pretty clear response about her mentality needing to change so she's the one dictating how the match goes. It's something that's quite evident in the way tennis has gone in the past few years with big hitters. The better you are at asserting yourself the more likely you are going to win. She's seen that story too many times this year.
I think I have to change my mentality in the game about not relying on that too much because I think sometimes I play a little bit too passive because I know I can get to balls. All the players that are doing well now on tour are big hitters. It's not like I don't have the tools to hit big, because I definitely do, I think it's just more so making that the first decision.
The desire to improve is something that's very important to Gauff and she's seen progress throughout the year. Many have talked about how badly she wants to win and these losses have been a painful experience for her. A good lesson too.
I think I improved throughout the season. Obviously today was a bit of a letdown for me, but I feel like the decisions I'm making on the court are better than the decisions I was making last year. I feel like now I'm not executing at all, frankly. I think I need to work on the execution part because I am executing them in practice, certain moments in practice. It's about transferring that into the match. I think I need to figure out what three things I want to focus on in the match, then maybe go to those points.
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