Almost two weeks after lifting her maiden French Open trophy, Coco Gauff returned to the court, but this time on the faster, trickier lawns of Europe. She kicked off her grass swing against Wang Xinyu, a familiar opponent she beat in Berlin back in 2022. But this time around, the Chinese World No. 49 flipped the script, stunning Gauff with a 6-3, 6-3 win. It was Gauff’s first match on grass this year, and it didn’t go unnoticed how out of rhythm she looked. With 25 unforced errors and seven double faults, the American just couldn’t find her footing. But she is already making up for it in the most amusing way!
Coco Gauff didn’t hide from the result and quickly addressed the loss on social media. “It was a tough one today but happy to be back on court,” Gauff wrote. “Tried my best to adjust with the quick turnaround but it wasn’t enough. As always, I’m learning as I go so I hope to do better next time.” She’s now focused on regrouping ahead of Wimbledon, which kicks off on June 30. “Excited to get some more practices in to be ready for Wimbledon,” she added.
But practice with the 21-year-old is never boring. In a fun little update on Instagram, she posted a clip of her and her team playing a game: rolling a tennis ball and racing to see who could reach the baseline first. And yes, there was a punishment for losing. In the next story, the losers were seen duck walking across the court as Gauff laughed in the background. She captioned the post, “mind you a small crowd of people watched them do this. sucks to be a loser!”
Image Credits: Coco Gauff/Instagram
Her current support crew has been key in keeping things sharp and fun. She’s now coached by Matt Daly and Jean-Christophe Faurel, while Richard Woodroof handles her fitness. According to his LinkedIn, he’s previously worked with Shelby Rogers, Lauren Davis, and Kevin Anderson.
Maria Vargo and Stephane Dal Soglio round out the team as her trainers. With this setup, Gauff is gearing up to make her mark at SW19. And a former WTA player is putting all her bets on the 2-time Grand Slam champion.
Coco Gauff gets major backing from former American WTA legend
Grass hasn’t exactly been Coco Gauff’s happy hunting ground since her Wimbledon breakout at 15, when she reached the fourth round. Since then, she’s yet to go past the round of 16 at the All England Club and still hasn’t won a title on the surface.
And now, with just one match on grass before Wimbledon, she’s walking into the year’s third Slam a little undercooked, but definitely not underprepared.
Interestingly, former WTA player CoCo Vandeweghe sees the early loss as a potential boost for Gauff. “That is what we always see from Coco, as much as we talk about the negative aspects of what goes wrong in her game, what we don’t talk about enough is what goes right,” she said.
Vandeweghe continued, “When the chips are down and she needs to fight and be the dog out there and just grind out situations, good or bad, she does it time and time again. I almost like that she lost, to not have the euphoria state of I am the Grand Slam champion kind of swagger walking around the court. She has a chip on her shoulder now, like we are having right now. [People are saying] Coco Gauff doesn’t have a chance at Wimbledon; this isn’t her best surface. When does Coco Gauff thrive? In those moments.”
The prep might not be picture perfect, but the fire’s still there. Can Coco Gauff turn the doubters into believers at Wimbledon? What do you think?
The post Coco Gauff’s Informal Grass Victory Forces “Loser” Team into Public Embarrassment appeared first on EssentiallySports.
