Coco Gauff followed up the ultimate high in her tennis career with a total low.
Gauff won the French Open last month for her second career major win. But on Tuesday, Gauff lost to Dayana Yastremska 7-6 (3), 6-1 in the first round at Wimbledon and got knocked out. This marked the second time in three years that Gauff got knocked out in the first round at Wimbledon and the fourth time in her career she lost in the first round of a major.
Gauff was asked after her loss what went wrong or what she might do differently. Gauff indicated that she hasn’t found the right formula to give herself more preparation on the grass surface.
“I think whether I would play Berlin or not again, just because I only practiced two days. I just feel like with the surface, I maybe could have used more matches. But it’s like finding the puzzle — I don’t usually like to play the week before. … When the time comes around again, I’ll approach it differently,” Gauff said.
Gauff played in the Berlin Open, which is played on grass. She received a bye in the first round and then lost 6-3, 6-3 in the second round on June 19, which was her first match since the French Open.
Though Gauff believes her pre-Wimbledon process wasn’t optimal, she still feels her opponent deserves credit.
“I don’t think it was all that either. Dayana played great. I felt like I wasn’t playing terrible on some points and she was hitting winners,” Gauff said.
Gauff has never made it past the fourth round at Wimbledon and is 11-6 there all time. The tournament where she has enjoyed her greatest success remains the French Open, where she has reached at least the quarterfinals five years in a row.
