Coco Gauff waves to the fans during the 2023 ASB Classic. Photo / Photosport
Coco Gauff waves to the fans during the 2023 ASB Classic. Photo / Photosport
When Coco Gauff talks about the moment that defined her 2023 season, it’s not what you might expect.
For Gauff, who will defend her ASB Classic crown this week in Auckland, it wasn’t that unforgettable September night in New York, when she became the first American teenagerto win the US Open since Serena Williams in 1999.
It also wasn’t her breakthrough WTA 500 title at Washington a month earlier, or the subsequent tournament victory at Cincinnati, where she beat world No. 1 Iga Swiatek en route to her first WTA 1000 crown.
Instead the most important point of her year came at Wimbledon, where she suffered a shock first round exit, losing to qualifier Sofia Kenin, then ranked more than 120 places below her. It was a jolt for the seventh seed – but it was needed.
“After Wimbledon I reached the lowest point of my career probably but sometimes you need those setbacks to push you forward,” said Gauff. “That’s what I needed to realise that maybe you should put less pressure on every single match because we play a lot of matches in the year.
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“I was putting so much on every match and too much on myself mentally. After that match I was like ‘let me take a step back and enjoy the tennis, enjoy the wins, enjoy the losses and that transferred into my results.”
It certainly did. Gauff had a hot streak, winning 18 of her next 19 matches, culminating in the US Open triumph, where she beat Aryna Sabalenka in an epic three set final, given the United States another hometown hero.
“It took me a week or so to comprehend it,” said Gauff. “Whenever I watch match point again – or it comes up – I definitely get emotional. Not because of me but all the years of work my parents put in and my team put in to reach that point.”
It was a statement performance and also eased some pressure. Gauff had been touted as the next big thing since she reached the junior US Open final as a 13-year-old and that intensified two years later, when she reached the fourth round at SW19 as a 15-year-old qualifier.
“I felt like the way I came up, I almost felt like I had a clock,” admitted Gauff. “I felt like I needed to win [a grand slam] as a teenager, just for how I started with Wimbledon and everything, not expectations from my team but fans and people who watch the game. So doing that was a bit of a pressure reliever.”
A lot of accomplished players don’t manage a major win across their whole career but Gauff won’t be resting on her laurels.
“I don’t have to reset my goals. The goals were always to win multiple [grand slams]. If anything it makes it more believable that I can do what I want to do.”
Gauff is on a comet like trajectory. She was the highest earning female athlete on the planet in 2023 – pocketing around $36 million – and her profile has gone through the roof but she remains remarkably down to Earth.
Coco Gauff at the 2024 ASB Classic. Photo / NZME
She spent part of Saturday hitting with kids at Te Atatu tennis club and genuinely enjoyed the experience, like she did last year in Manurewa.
“I love to do stuff with the kids, it just reminds me of when I started,” said Gauff.
In Auckland she will be favoured to defend her crown – especially with some big names clustered on the opposite side of the draw – but deflects any expectation.
“Last season is last season,” said Gauff. “Obviously you want to defend but my whole career I’ve just been trying to forget the past. Try to treat every tournament like a fresh start.”
Gauff faces compatriot and world No. 98 Claire Liu in Tuesday’s opening match. They’ve met once before, at Indian Wells in 2022, where Gauff prevailed 6-1 7-6 (4).
“It’s going to be a tough match, she gets a lot of balls back, a good ball striker, not expecting it to be easy.”
Before that Gauff planned a low key New Year’s Eve, visiting an escape room with her family then watching the fireworks from Sky City hotel, as well as settling on some key goals for 2024.
“I always wait for the last minute to write down some goals,” laughed Gauff. “I end up putting too many. Hopefully I can stick to my resolutions this year for more than two weeks.”
Michael Burgess has been a sports journalist since 2005, winning several national awards and covering Olympics, Fifa World Cups and America’s Cup campaigns.
