Coco Gauff: “I feel like this is a crucial year for me. I want to retrain myself to be more aggressive”

The American says she is focused on improving all parts of her game as she tries to win her first Grand Slam title

Inside/Panoramic

May 11, 2023

Coco Gauff says she wants to “retrain herself to be more aggressive” as she tries to take the next step up in her career by winning a Grand Slam title.

The American, who reached the final of a slam for the first time last year at Roland-Garros, suffered a blow to her confidence last time out when she was well-beaten by Paula Badosa in Madrid.

But the 19-year-old won her opener at the Italian Open in style on Thursday with a 6-0, 6-1 win over Yulia Putintseva, showcasing the kind of attacking tennis she says she’ll need to win a slam.

“I feel like this year we can really change the way I play,” Gauff told reporters in Rome. “I feel like it’s a crucial year for me. So I think I want to relearn and retrain myself to be aggressive.”

“The goal is not to be top 10 forever. The goal is to be No 1 and win slams”

Gauff’s success – she’s ranked No 4 – has been built on her athleticism and defensive skills and though she has improved her serve of late, she knows she needs to make further improvements in all parts of her game.

“I’ve been pretty successful playing the way I’ve been playing. But the goal isn’t to be top 10 forever. The goal is to be No 1 and win Grand Slams. To get to that next level, I feel like that’s the decisions I have to make, so it’s almost retraining my mind to make those decisions.

“Today I tried to be, every ball, I think there were maybe two times I think where I didn’t commit to the process, and I lost those points. You feel much better when you’re committing to the process. I do feel like when you’re committing to it, it’s going to work out eventually.”

Badosa defeat “a bit of a low”

Gauff, who plays Marie Bouzkova next in Rome, said she felt last week’s defeat by Badosa was a “bit of a low”.

“I feel like I didn’t have fun on the court,” she said. “Even when I was still in the match in the first set, I feel like I was very stressed. I think it showed.

“In the second set, she’s obviously a great player, but with my serve and everything, I should be on the scoreboard. I think I mentally wasn’t engaged in that second set. I think I let something happen in the first, maybe one or two bad points. I just kind of stayed down.

“This week I’m just accepting it for what it is. If I try to win the point or lose the point making the right decision, I think I have to be satisfied with that.”