Coco Gauff has a match to play on Friday at the 2023 Eastbourne International, and she won't be following the
Wimbledon draw during the day.
Yes, the draw, the one that will tell us all the first-round clashes and the potential quarterfinals in the ATP and the WTA draws. The road to the finals, as tweeted out by the respective social media pages of the Tours, will only reveal the unpredictable and at the same time beautiful nature of the Grand Slam.
It's a rather interesting thing, and a lot of fans do follow the ceremony, and quite a few players too. It is a pretty good insight into how the event might shape up, even though most of the time, the surprises make it go completely differently.
When it comes to Coco Gauff, all her attention will be towards her Eastbourne clash with Madison Keys. The winner goes to the final, and she set up that all-American matchup after winning an all-American matchup
against Jessica Pegula. One thing she won't be paying attention to that day? The draw.
"Not that exciting. Not that exciting, honestly. I mean, I'm not the one that's waiting for the draw to come out. Some players are. Yeah, it's not that exciting to me, to be honest."
Perhaps it's the confidence that keeps Gauff away from looking at the draw, or perhaps it's anxiety. In any case, the draw doesn't matter much for the American simply because she likes to focus on one match at a time.
The first round is all that matters at the start, and whatever could potentially happen in the fourth round or further doesn't mean anything until you win a few matches a get there.
Practicing a lot since her disappointing Berlin loss has gone well for her, so she's expected to make a good run at Wimbledon.
"I know the fans love it because they do all the matchups that could potentially happen. For us, for me as a player, I don't look ahead. I focus on the first round and then round by round. In order to get to the quarters, you have to win some matches before, so I try not to look too far ahead."