Coco Gauff is right in the mix for the Roland Garros crown in 2025. The 21-year-old has already made deep runs this clay season, reaching the finals in both Madrid and Rome. And her record in Paris is rock solid too, four straight quarterfinals from 2021 to 2024, including a runner-up finish in 2022. Now, she’s pushing through the draw once again, eyeing her second Grand Slam title. And who better to guide her than the legendary Venus Williams?
Gauff kicked off her campaign with a clean win over Australia’s Olivia Gadecki. She wrapped up the match 6-2, 6-2 in just 71 minutes. Round two, though, didn’t go quite as smoothly. She faced 18-year-old Julia Valentova, a Grand Slam debutant ranked outside the Top 130. The scoreboard might’ve said 6-2, 6-4 in Gauff’s favor, but it was a little more chaotic than that.
Valentova handed over 33 unforced errors, giving the 2023 US Open champion plenty of free points. But even with all those gifts, Gauff had her own problems. She was broken five times in the match. The only game she held on serve in the second set came in the fifth game, which turned out to be the key one.
So, how do you push through tough matches and stay focused on the tour? Well, Venus Williams had something to say about that. The seven-time Grand Slam champ joined the TNT crew at Roland Garros, sitting down with Coco Gauff and Sloane Stephens to talk about facing pressure and staying grounded. Her answer? “Passion. Like love, love the game, but also a sheer determination to have fun no matter what. Yeah, like you want to win, but you want to look back and say, ‘I had a good time.’ It’s horrible to look back and be like, ‘I hated it.’ You don’t want to remember it like you felt sad. So win, lose, or draw, that was non-negotiable.
She further continued and said, “And like, making a life and a schedule that fit around happiness. Because when you’re happy, you play well. So those two go hand in hand, and it’s like a simple equation but non-negotiable. Your schedule, everything around you, has to make you happy. And it sounds a little selfish, but tennis players are selfish. But we can’t help it. We’re by ourselves, so we have to be. But I think you’re doing perfectly.”
Just a few weeks ago, Venus stepped into a new role – commentator. She’s now part of the TNT Sports broadcast team for the 2025 French Open. Announcing the news online, the 44-year-old tweeted, “I’m excited to join @tntsports as a commentator for @rolandgarros, alongside this incredible roster of athletes! Stay tuned for our coverage to start on Sunday, May 25. #RolandGarros ” She shared the update on her IG Stories too, and fans were all in.
The Gauff–Venus connection goes way back. They played doubles together in Paris in 2021. And of course, everyone remembers that iconic moment in 2019, when a 15-year-old Gauff beat Venus at Wimbledon. She followed that up with another win over the tennis icon at the 2020 Australian Open. Now, six years later, the student is chasing greatness again—this time with her mentor watching from the commentary booth.
The post “Tennis Players Are Selfish”- Venus Williams Confesses Brutally Honest Survival Tactic to Coco Gauff Amid French Open Chaos appeared first on EssentiallySports.
