‘Definitely Iga!’ Coco Gauff on why Swiatek is her biggest rival on tour

Coco Gauff has been on tour long enough to know who the toughest opponents are

COCO GAUFF USA during the PORSCHE GRAND PRIX – WTA500 – Stuttgart, 19.4.2023 in Stuttgart Porsche Arena, Germany – Photo: Mathias Schulz (Imago/Panoramic)

Carrie Dunn

April 20, 2023

Coco Gauff never expects an easy match on tour, but when the world No 1 is on the other side of the net from her, she knows it’ll be an especially difficult day at the office.

After beating Veronika Kudermetova 6-2, 4-6, 7-6 (3) in the Stuttgart round of 32, the American was asked who her trickiest opponent is – and she had no hesitation.

“Right now, head-to-head, definitely Iga. I haven’t beaten her. I would say she is the biggest. Pretty much everybody else I’ve gotten some wins over.

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“Obviously everyone in the top 10 everyone I think I have played, or – yeah, I pretty much played and maybe won and lost to except Iga. I think she’s the only one I haven’t beat.”

Gauff: I need to be aggressive on the right shots

The 19-year-old also talked about her style of play on court – comparing it with the more aggressive gameplan of Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina.

“I don’t think I will ever be like Rybakina who can really literally hit someone off the court. I think more so the way I want to play is being aggressive on the right shots.

“I think the tiebreaker [against Kudermetova] I did really well in that. A lot of the shots I hit were kind of close to the line, but I think those are the shots that I know I can make. I missed a couple of those earlier in the match, but it’s the fact that I went for them, I think that’s when I made them when I needed to.

“The [Roland-Garros] final is great, but like I feel like since then last year, I feel like the way I have been losing matches has been because of that, I need to change something. So I think just keeping that mentality I had last year, using my physicality to make them play tennis but also not making them comfortable where they feel like they can just hit me off the court. So I think it’s just finding that balance, and I’m still trying to figure it out.”