Coco Gauff resets after Cincinnati loss, embraces pressure ahead of US Open title defense

NEW YORK—Life hasn’t changed much for Coco Gauff since she became a Grand Slam champion, the No. 3 seed admitted at her 2024 US Open Media Day press conference.

“I feel like I was in a crazy position last year where there was a lot surrounding me, like, before this, even before I was a Grand Slam champion,” said Gauff, who has been competing at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center since making her main-draw debut at 15 years old. “I think that's where it was a little bit easier coming into all of this as a Grand Slam champion because of, like, the gradual rise I've had in this sport when it came to the amount of attention I was getting.

“Honestly, this week hasn't been much different, other than people saying I'm the defending champion,” she added, “but other than that, I feel like it's been the same amount of attention and same amount of sponsor commitments and all that.”

The main difference between this year to last is that the 20-year-old arrived in Flushing Meadows without a winning streak from having captured her first Masters 1000 trophy at the Cincinnati Open. Her title defense in the Queen City ended abruptly last week, but Gauff hopes to turn her opening-round defeat to Yulia Putintseva into an advantage ahead of her first match in New York.

“I feel like it was a blessing in disguise I lost so early, because I was able to actually train, which I hadn't been able to,” said Gauff, who has endured a busy summer that included a flag-bearing turn at the Summer Olympic Games in Paris. “I do my best results when I come off a training block. I was able to train for a good week and a half and obviously still have a couple more days to do that.

“The last couple of practices have gone really well, which before, like, during Cincinnati wasn't having great practices, in Toronto wasn't having great practices. Here I'm having great practices, which doesn't mean I'm going to go out on the match and play great, but it does give you more confidence when you're actually practicing great the week before a tournament.”

After opting out of post-match press following her Cincinnati defeat, Gauff indeed appeared in better spirits on Friday, joking about a childhood dream of becoming President of the United States.

“I knew I always wanted to be a tennis player,” said Gauff, who expressed an interest in meeting U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris. “But I always thought, you know, I feel like as a super young kid, like four or five, you see the kid, I don't know if any of you heard of like the Kid President, you're like, ‘I want to be like him.’

“Yeah, I'm sure there was a thought in my head at that age that I would be the next president or the Queen of England or something crazy like that. Then you get older and you realize reality is not like that.”

Reality has nonetheless turned out pretty well for Gauff, who peaked at No. 2 in the WTA rankings earlier this season. She reached back-to-back Grand Slam semifinals at the Australian Open and Roland Garros before enduring a fourth-round exit at Wimbledon.

I know people have said things about me online and will continue to for the rest of my life, but I know it comes just out of a sense of...maybe hatred or jealousy. I don't know. But for me, I never root on people's downfalls. Regardless of who you are, I'll never root on somebody's downfall. I'll always root for success. Coco Gauff

But much like last year, the chronically online Gauff is channeling support from the proverbial haters as she takes a new mantra into her first round match against Varvara Gracheva on Monday.

“A couple days ago somebody commented on my TikTok and the comment said, ‘You've won literally and figuratively. Why stress yourself out over a victory lap?’ I was, like, that's actually a good perspective…I think I saw that comment, like, three days ago, and I was, like, ‘Okay, I'm going to stick by that and use that,’ because it really changed my perspective coming into this.

“I know people have said things about me online and will continue to for the rest of my life, but I know it comes just out of a sense of, I don't know, maybe hatred or jealousy, I don't know. But for me, I never root on people's downfalls. Regardless of who you are, I'll never root on somebody's downfall. I'll always root for success.”