Coco Gauff shows her true colors after Indian | Sports News

Coco Gauff has brazenly mentioned her current struggles on the court docket following her exit within the fourth spherical of Indian Wells – and vowed to get higher. The world No. 3 had been grappling with a three-match dropping streak previous to the occasion and had not made it previous the quarter-finals in any particular person singles event.

Her time at Indian Wells – a event through which she registered 21 double faults in a single match – unraveled within the final set towards Belinda Bencic when she failed to carry her serve regardless of a 40-0 lead at a crucial 4-4 juncture. Post-match, the 20-year-old mirrored on this string of losses, expressing her goal to carry out higher.

Ending 2024 on a triumphant be aware with a WTA Finals victory, Gauff kicked off the season by collaborating within the United Cup, the place she performed a essential function in securing victory for Team USA, together with an spectacular win over Iga Swiatek.

However, her success within the group occasion didn’t translate into comparable achievements in subsequent solo appearances. Despite being a nine-time titleholder, Gauff was knocked out within the quarter-finals of the Australian Open after which confronted first-round defeats in each the Doha and Dubai tournaments.

At Indian Wells, Gauff managed to halt her dropping streak with victories over Moyuka Uchijima and Maria Sakkari, making it to the final sixteen earlier than Bencic ended her run with a 3-6 6-3 6-4 final result.

When questioned later about what’s been deemed a “slump” in her 2025 efficiency so far, Gauff provided a measured response: “I mean, overall I feel it’s not as bad as it seems, I guess,” she mentioned.

“I mean, start of the year, I did well at United Cup and lost to Paula fourth round in Australia. Middle East wasn’t a great swing for me. Here, I mean, I lost 6-4 in the third in the fourth round against a tough opponent who’s coming off a 500 win.

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“Obviously I needed to do higher, wish to have higher outcomes, however it’s not one thing I can crush myself on. I’m making an attempt to do higher, and that is all I can do. I’m making an attempt to work on issues in follow, and sadly proper now it isn’t translating how I’d prefer to.

“I think it’s all connected. We kind of changed a lot of things with the serve. I don’t want to get into specifics of it, but yeah, I mean, I went on the practice court after the first day and then after the other day.

“You know, I nonetheless suppose I might have served higher. Was clearly more constant, however positively wish to get more aggressive with it. It was sort of one of these issues the place I began the event not serving nicely, so it is more so simply making an attempt to get it in.

“I hit some good serves today, but I feel like especially in that last game, up 40-0, I probably could have went bigger in those moments. But yeah, it is an improvement, and hopefully can continue to do better from here.”

Following the match, Bencic mirrored on the pivotal second during the ultimate set’s eighth sport, labeling it a “turning point” and noting Gauff appeared “tense” even whereas forward at 40-0.

“I felt like she was more tense, so I felt like that was the right time to go for her forehand,” revealed the world No. 58. “Obviously, like, it’s difficult to all the time go at one side, because I feel like if someone is not so confident on one side, the worse you can do is give them rhythm.”