Coco Gauff doesn't think that the pressure tennis players feel is the same pressure as people in the 'real world' feel.
It's obviously not the same, but it doesn't necessarily mean that one is easier to deal with than the other. Pressure in the real world is more existential in the sense that the consequences are greater, but pressure in tennis has its own consequences.
Tennis players play for money on top of trophies, so the better they do, the more financially secure they are in life, and for some players, like those ranked lower on the ATP and WTA Tours, it can be existential as well. It's not a cheap sport to play; for some, the pressures can overlap.
For Gauff, who spoke at the 2023 US Open, after her win over Jelena Ostapenko in straight sets, the pressure that came from tennis was hard to deal with initially, but with time she was able to adjust to it well.
I think it's just putting my life into perspective. I mean, at first I used to think negative things, like, why is there so much pressure, why is this so hard, blah, blah, blah. I realize in a way it's pressure but it's not.
I mean, there are people struggling to feed their families, I mean, there are people struggling to feed their families, come from, people who have to pay their bills. That's real pressure, that's real hardship, that's real life. In
It's a healthy way of looking at things and quite mature from Gauff who understands her privilege. As the sign in the player's tunnel of Arthur Ashe says, 'Pressure is a privilege'. Billie Jean King said it a long time ago, and it rings true to this day.
I'm just, like, I mean, I have a lucky life, and so I should enjoy it. I know there are millions of people who probably want to be in this position that I am now, so instead of saying why this, why that, I should just be, like, why not me? Why am I not enjoying this? I should.
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