Coco Gauff confessed she is already feeling “mentally exhausted” after scraping through a draining first-round match at the US Open on Tuesday night.
The 2023 champion looked far from her best as she battled past Australia’s Ajla Tomljanovic in a nervy encounter that lasted just under three hours.
Despite her struggles, the third seed dug deep to clinch a 6-4, 6-7 (2), 7-5 victory and advance to round two.
“Honestly it’s been really tough, mentally exhausting,” the 21-year-old admitted afterwards.
Coco Gauff confessed she is already feeling “mentally exhausted” after scraping through a draining first-round match at the US Open on Tuesday night
|REUTERS
“But I’m trying. It wasn’t the best today, but it was an improvement on last week [in Cincinnati]; I’m just trying to improve with each match.”
Gauff endured a chaotic build-up to Flushing Meadows, shaking up her coaching team on the eve of the tournament.
She replaced long-time coach Matt Daly with biomechanics expert Gavin MacMillan in a bid to address her unreliable serve but acknowledged she is still adjusting to the changes.
“I know when I did this, I was not going to maybe serve the best,” she explained.
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“I just felt like I don’t want to waste any more time.
"If I could have worked with Gavin earlier, I would have, but he was on the team of another player.
"Then he magically became available. I knew I had to make a quick decision because I knew he would be pretty sought after.
"I think hopefully this time next year I’ll be serving much better.”
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Gauff piled up 59 unforced errors and 10 double faults against Tomljanovic, dropped her serve six times and looked vulnerable throughout.
Had her opponent been more clinical - Tomljanovic committed 56 errors herself and lost her serve eight times - the American’s title defence might have ended before it had truly begun.
“It was a tough match. Ajla was tough, she was getting so many balls back,” Gauff said.
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Ajla Tomljanovic pushed Coco Gauff all the way at the US Open
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“It wasn’t the best, but I’m happy to get through to the next round.”
The relief was clear as Gauff celebrated reaching round two, but the performance highlighted the fragile state of her game.
She admitted that the stress of changing coaches so close to a Slam had taken a toll.
“I just haven’t had a lot of stability leading up to this,” she continued. “It’s been draining, but I’m trying to stay focused.”
Still, Gauff insisted she is determined to push through and believes incremental improvements will come.
“I know the level I can get to,” she concluded. “This wasn’t the best today, but I’ll keep working.”
Coco Gauff previously won the US Open back in 2023
|REUTERS
The French Open champion, who captured her first Slam title on the clay of Paris earlier this year, remains one of the favourites in New York.
Yet Tuesday’s narrow escape suggests she has plenty of work to do if she is to mount another deep run.