“I’m trying to be transparent but also not give the whole world my business”: Coco Gauff admits off-court struggles
Coco Gauff used her third round Rome press conference to acknowledge months of off-court struggles – without specifying what they are. She plays Iva Jovic in the round of 16 today.
Coco Gauff, Rome 2026 | © Foto FITP
Coco Gauff won her third-round match in Rome on Saturday. The score, 5-7, 6-0, 6-4 against Solana Sierra, suggested a player who had to work for it. The press conference that followed suggested why.
Gauff is still in the tournament. She plays the American teenager Iva Jovic in the round of 16 on Monday, two days on from the press conference in which she made the comments below.
Asked for her thoughts on a strange match in which she had lost the first set, hammered the second to love in unusually quick time, and recovered from 0-3 down in the third, the world No. 2 was direct about what had been happening on her side of the net.
“It was one of those days where you don’t feel great and you have to play a match,” Gauff said. “I’m happy I got through it. One of those days I just didn’t feel motivated to go on the court. Then when you’re on the court, you’re motivated. You get too frustrated.”
Mental. Just personal things off-court that I’m just trying to get through.
The follow-up question was whether the reluctance was mental or physical. Her answer was the most substantial thing she said all afternoon.
“It’s mental. Just personal things off-court that I’m just trying to get through.”
Five years ago, that sentence would have been the story. In 2026, it is part of a story that the women’s game in particular has been telling for some time. Naomi Osaka’s 2021 French Open withdrawal over media obligations marked the inflection point — the moment a top player publicly placed her mental health above the obligations of the tour, and in doing so, made it possible for others to do the same.
Simone Biles at the Tokyo Olympics three months later confirmed the shift. Bianca Andreescu has spoken openly about the anxiety that followed her 2019 US Open title and the long injury periods after it. The conversation has changed, in five years, from one a player would not have started to one almost every top player has, at some point, had to.
Gauff : “Good days and bad days”
Gauff sits inside that arc. She has been open in past press conferences about the pressure of her career – the period of struggle around Wimbledon and the US Open in 2024 produced a string of unusually candid post-match conferences – but she has tended to frame those struggles in tennis terms. On Saturday, for the first time in some time, the framing was different.
Asked whether the day’s struggle was a one-off or part of something longer, Gauff did not duck the question. “I mean, I’ve been going through it for a few months. Good days and bad days.”
She was equally clear that this was not the same kind of difficulty she had spoken about during the rougher patch of her partnership with Brad Gilbert in 2024. The contrast she drew on Saturday was deliberate.
“I think it was very different. That time was more like on-court things – just not having a game where I feel… Now I feel like I have solutions with my game. I’m serving a lot better, returning, just doing everything better than I was in that period. For most of my career I’ve been having to only focus on my game. So it’s weird when your mind is in a different place. You’re also feeling confident on court.”
It’s “just something I have to manage” she added. “I don’t know. It’s life, being a woman,” she said, with a laugh. A subsequent question asked whether the issue was menstrual. Gauff ruled it out — “no, no, no, no, not that” – and immediately moved to draw a clearer boundary.
tennis is great. It’s something that keeps me sane for the most part.
“No one’s going to know. I’m not going to talk about it. I am trying to be transparent but also not give the whole world my business.”
She returned to the same line of thinking at the end of the press conference, in slightly softer terms. “It’s difficult, because I do like being transparent in the press. I think it’s important, because then you’re going to be asked about it, you might be fine, then you’re going to be asked about it and I don’t want to talk about that right now. I want people to know we show up when we’re not always 100% perfect. It’s a fine balance. My on-court stuff I like to talk about and be vulnerable about. Off-court – just depends on the topic.”
Gauff is not looking for a resolution, if you listen to her quotes ; she is managing. And she would prefer the rest of the conversation to remain on her tennis.
The next test is the Jovic match. The tennis itself, Gauff said, is part of the answer rather than part of the problem. “The tennis is great. It’s something that keeps me sane for the most part. But it’s also important to do other things in life that make me happy.” She has another round of 16 to play. Roland-Garros, two weeks away, will be its own test. Whatever she is carrying off court, the on-court evidence this week is that the game is, for now, the steadier of the two.
