'Not One Of My Favorite Events': Gauff Explains Reasons For Playing Mixed Doubles

Sunday, 03 September 2023 at 05:15

byNurein Ahmed

Coco Gauff's motives for playing mixed doubles at this year's US Open only became clear after the conclusion of her match alongside Jack Sock.

Gauff has played eight mixed doubles matches in her young career, including Friday's first-round defeat in what was Sock's final match of his professional tennis career. It wasn't the first time they teamed up as a pair, having done so at last year's Wimbledon where they famously reached the semifinals.

Gauff called it 'a weird dynamic' switching from doubles where she plays predominantly with Jessica Pegula to mixed doubles with Sock. There were certainly moments when Gauff felt the chemistry wasn't quite at par playing alongside the retiring compatriot, but she felt privileged to grace such a momentous occasion in Sock's career.

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"Yeah, it was definitely a weird dynamic 'cause there was also a couple times where I would look at him - Was that your ball? - sometimes when they would drop shot him. I'm used to playing with Jess. The guys are just a lot faster naturally. Sometimes he would get to stuff I wasn't expecting."

"Also it was his last match so I did feel a little bit of pressure just because I wanted to do well for him. We couldn't pull it out. I first met him a long time ago, he doesn't even remember this, when I was 12 years old. It was really cool to be on one of his last matches with his career."

Gauff further elaborated that she doesn't relish playing mixed doubles. The 19-year-old feels that you're always in a perpetual cycle trying to compete with the other girl in the mixed-gender battle, something she says is a stark contrast to doubles where she is only focused on being a better player.

"Playing with Jess, honestly, I think I'm a little bit more relaxed. I do feel in mixed doubles you're kind of competing with the girls, so you want to play better than the other girl. Whereas in doubles, you just want to be good."

Playing mixed doubles at the Olympic Games next year appears to be Gauff's prime motivation for pursuing that competition, but whether she will play mixed doubles in the near future is doubtful as Gauff told the press following her third-round win over Elise Mertens.

"I don't know if I like mixed, to be honest. It's not one of my favorite events. I honestly don't know how many more times I'll play this. I want to play in the Olympics, so I need to find a partner for that."

"It's difficult. I don't like being aced that many times. I really don't like that at all. Also when the guy is too nice to the girl, I hate that, too. You can hit me, I can take it. So yeah. It's little things like that that pet peeve me. I think it's cool for the fans to see just a different spectrum of the game competing on one court."