Coco Gauff opted to play at the 2024 Canadian Open, but after she lost to Diana Shnaider, the American wondered how smart of a decision it was to play.
It's a very good question to ask because very few people have had the workload Gauff had at the Olympics recently. The 20-year-old played in the singles, doubles, and mixed doubles competitions at the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris.
She played three singles matches, two doubles matches, and two mixed doubles matches. Overall, she played seven matches over four days, from July 27th to the 31st.
Her final day in Paris featured two matches on the same day, which certainly didn't help with the fatigue. She played her first match in Toronto only a week later, and while it's true that it has been a week between the matches, traveling, time zones, and change of surface all have to be factored in.
It was a bit rushed and didn't work out for her. Her first match at the event was good, as she won against Yafan Wang in two sets. Her second match at the WTA 1000 event in Toronto, against Shnaider, was far from perfect, as she was beaten easily in two sets.
The score was 6-4, 6-1 for the Russian, who outplayed Gauff comfortably throughout the match. The 2023 US Open champion clearly wasn't happy with her performance.
"Yeah, I felt like I just wasn't finding my timing well, I had a lot of unforced errors and a lot of double-faults. She played steady and she didn't give me any free points, so kudos to her."
After the match, Gauff was questioned about her decision to play, as reporters wondered about her perspective on resting up mentally and physically after the Olympics.
To her credit, she admitted that she knew she was going to feel tired in this event, but obviously now, after the loss, there is a conversation to be made about whether playing was the right call.
"I mean, I knew I was going to go into this tired either way, that's just how it is. Yeah, there's sometimes I question like whether I should have played or not, but at the end of the day I wanted to test myself and see if I would be able to, how I would do being mentally tired a little bit and physically fatigued."
Gauff clearly didn't expect to win the event, and losing so easily doesn't seem to trouble her too much in the grand scheme of things. She's disappointed, but she's mostly disappointed with how she competed rather than the loss.
"I said going into the tournament I didn't have high expectations, but I wish I could have competed better today, even if it resulted in a loss. I don't think I competed well."
At the end of the day, it could actually be a blessing for her because she completed the struggle week in Toronto. By the time the Cincinnati Open rolls around in a few days, she will have two matches on the surface.
She will now have a full week of combined practices in Toronto and Cincinnati, and that might work out well for her. After all, she's the defending champion in Cincinnati, having won the tournament last year.
More importantly she won the US Open, and defending that trophy is the main goal for her. To win it again, she will need more matches, which she will get in Cincinnati.
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