Coco Gauff hasn't had much luck against Iga Swiatek recently but the American still sees her as a beatable player.
The comment created a bit of buzz on social media but it wasn't made as a slight to the Polish player. Gauff very much respects what Swiatek has done but she aspired to be in her place one day and it's important to keep a perspective that you can reach that level. Speaking ahead of the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, Gauff talked about the world number one.
Obviously, she [Iga Swiatek] is doing really well but no one looks at her like some impossible goal. I mean, she's just a tennis player. I am not trying to downplay her achievements, she's beaten me a lot of times.
The hope for Gauff is to get to the level of Swiatek and dominate the sport in a similar manner to what Swiatek has been able to do. That's why she's calling her beatable because she wants that to be an attainable thing in her mind.
But I feel like you can't look at the game that way," she added. "This is a person that's excelling at the level right now, but you can't look at it I guess in a far way because you want that to be you one day. She's one of those players that you kinda have to learn from but also I guess not put too high on a pedestal because that's going to be your opponent at the end of the day. So I think it's like a catch-22 there.
She likened the status of Swiatek on the WTA Tour right now to the big three on the ATP Tour. You have to believe they are beatable in order to get out on the court and actually do it.
That's like now with a lot of the guys, with the Big 3, Rafa and Novak. I think it's kinda the same way where the guys have to put them on that pedestal but when they play them, you can't think about everything that they have done on the court.
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