Coco Gauff admitted that she never look at her ranking, even though she's currently close to achieving a new career-high.
When it comes to the rankings in tennis, every player approaches it differently. Some know exactly how many points they have, while others have no idea what's their position.
Of course, for the higher-ranked players, their seeding at Grand Slams clearly suggests what their exact ranking is, but that still doesn't mean they are fully aware of the situation, knowing how many points they need to earn to move up by a position, or drop some places.
Gauff is one of the players who doesn't care about the rankings at all. Currently, the 20-year-old is ranked third in the world, which is her current career-high, and should she outperform Aryna Sabalenka by 240 points at the 2024 Italian Open in Rome, she will reach her new career-high second place.
However, speaking ahead of the WTA 1000 tournament in Rome, where she will have a new doubles partner after Jessica Pegula's withdrawal, Gauff admitted that she's one of the players, who doesn't look at the rankings at all.
"For me personally, ranking has never been like a thing for me. I just never look. Even if I did look, I wouldn't care."
Still, she admitted that towards the end of the season, she tends to check whether she will make it to the WTA Finals, as only eight best players in the given year qualify for that event, and currently, Gauff is fifth in the 2024 WTA Race.
"I will say maybe like towards the end of the year you're looking at the live ranking to see if you make the WTA Finals."
For the 2023 US Open champion it's more about winning titles, like the one she won at Flushing Meadows a few months ago. If she wins titles, she knows she's doing well, and rankings will come with that.
"For me it's more about titles. For sure if you played bad a couple weeks in a row, it does make you feel bad about yourself. I've never been a player to attach to the ranking. I think it's just I want to do well in tournaments. The ranking comes with that."
At the same time, Gauff is aware that some players' situation is much different and much more challenging. Many players on the verge of qualifying for a Grand Slam main draw, which pays significantly more than any tournament that they get to attend, have to adjust their schedules to hunt points in attempt to improve their rankings.
"I know it is difficult for some people, especially when their ranking moves a lot. Especially when you're on the cusp of getting into main and quallies, I think that's more of a difficult situation than maybe when you're like top 20 and you know you're going to get into everything."
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