New York-Coco Gauff continued to sweep tears in her eyes between points in her second round match on the US Open on Thursday evening, in an attempt to stay composed and tried to give himself a chance to win.
The serving problems of Gauff were another problem, just as they were two nights earlier, just as they have been for a while now. The dual Grand SLAM champion recently worked with a new coach to try to solve that aspect of her game, and although there is clearly still work, Gauff found out how she could stay in the tournament and Donna Vekic 7-6 (5), 6-2 in Arthur Ashe Stadium.
“To be honest, today was a tough match for me. But I am just happy with how I could manage it. It has been a tough few weeks,” Gauff said during her interview before she paused when she started crying.
There were screaming of encouragement from spectators, and Gauff continued: “I do this for myself, but I also do it for you. No matter how difficult it comes in, you can do it.”
Gauff won the US Open in 2023 as a teenager and then added a French open trophy in June. With the most recent Slam, Wimbledon, Gauff left in the first round.
Her serving misery comes up from time to time, including when 19 double mistakes contributed to a loss that ended her defending defense in New York a year ago. She leads the tour with more than 300 double errors this season 33 in one game not long ago and hired biomechanics expert Gavin Macmillan, credited for rebuilding No. 1 ranked Aryna Sabalenka’s Serve, shortly before this US Open.
In the first round, Gauff needed three sets to get past Ajla Tomljanovic, partly due to double errors.
But as in that match, Gauff’s defense and superiority at the basic line bore its past Vekic.
Vekic, who beat Gauff last year at the Paris Olympic Games, on his way to the silver medal, took a medical time out to let her right shoulder look in the first set and had a lot of serving misery. She has formulated twice.
In the first set, Gauff, a 21-year-old from Florida, had seven double mistakes and lost four of her six service games, including to train 5-4 the tears and then started 6-5. But she immediately broke back and was superior in the tiebreak.
“I just tried to tell myself to breathe and to be honest, just put another ball on the field and just try to remember the things I do well,” Gauff said. “I don’t remember much of the end of the first set, to be honest, but yes, it is quite surprising that I could get out of it.”
When Vekic sent a forehand long to end the set, Gauff’s mother got up from her chair, a row behind Macmillan, and shouted: “Come on! Let’s go!”
Gauff went to the dressing room to splash water on her face and get the focus back. It worked wonders. She reset herself, and the second set went much smoother: only one double error, zero service breaks, for a crowd with Star Gymnast Simone Biles.
Towards the end, Gauff was in a much better mood and shouted as he shaked a closed left fist when the game was won.
She had noticed that Biles was at hand.
“She helped me get it out. I was just thinking: if she could go on a 6-inch bar and could do that, with all the pressure of the world, I can hit the ball. … It brought me a little calm, just know her story, with all the things she experienced mentally,” Gauff said. “She is certainly an inspiration.”
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