'She Is So Poised And So Calm': Gauff Praised By Former Wimbledon Champion Bartoli

Monday, 11 September 2023 at 06:00

byJake Davies

Marion Bartoli recognised Coco Gauff's ability to keep her composure and show so much maturity for someone still young after Gauff won her maiden Grand Slam title at the US Open.

Perhaps Gauff escaping through a challenging first round against Laura Siegemund very much set the tone for the rest of the event. Emma Raducanu had won the 2021 US Open title, where it felt like everything had fallen into place and moved so smoothly.

However, this was contrasting in the way that it felt like Gauff really needed to earn most of her matches and sometimes come through without playing her best tennis. That was the case in the final win against Aryna Sabalenka, too.

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Marion Bartoli was watching courtside during the entire tournament and she talked through the shortcomings of the first set before Gauff eventually bounced back.

"That bounce back for me was most impressive. Bouncing back from the first set after not playing well. She honestly didn't play a good first set. She was not hitting the forehand and she was double faulting. The way she just mentally stuck to it."

Gauff may have leaned on her past experiences of losing that French Open final last year. The US Open experience is very different, but in many ways, Gauff could have used that loss to recognise things she did well, and elements of her game that she could grow from in future big match experiences. The calmness under pressure was sensational at times. Bartoli backed this up.

"She's only 19. She never won a Grand Slam before, but she kept her head down. She kept on really staying extremely calm throughout that situation. She's so poised, so calm. Not getting stressed. That for me was the most impressive part of the match."

The coaching team of Brad Gilbert and Pere Riba definitely deserve some credit for Gauff's renewed confidence and calmness, but ultimately it had to come from Gauff, and she delivered under the biggest of pressure.