Coco Gauff claimed she was “frustrated” and “disappointed” following her surprise first-round elimination from the 2023 Wimbledon Championships on Monday. That was the first time the American had left a Grand Slam without a victory since the Australian Open in 2022.
Gauff lost 6-4, 4-6, 6-2 in her SW19 debut against former Australian Open winner Sofia Kenin. The World No. 7 lost in the first round at Wimbledon for the first time in four visits. An upset Coco Gauff bemoaned at her press conference that she thought she had worked hard in practice but not hard enough, based on her performance against Kenin. The adolescent admitted her flaws, saying she needed to go back to the drawing board and figure out where she might improve.
“It really wants [sic] me to work harder. Right now I’m very frustrated and disappointed. So, yeah, I think it makes me want to work even harder. I feel like I have been working hard, but clearly it’s not enough. I have to go back to the drawing board and see where I need to improve and how to do the right drills to do that,” Coco Gauff said.
“I mean, I knew it was going to be a tough first round for me. I tried my best, but it wasn’t enough. I think I have a lot to work on if I want to improve from this,” she added.
Coco Gauff mentioned her service games as one of the areas she needs to improve after losing to Sofia Kenin, noting that while she is a stronger server than Kenin, her opponent proved more technical on the night. The American also emphasized her forehand and lack of aggressiveness during crucial periods, saying she made far too many mistakes on both wings.
I’m a better server than her: Coco Gauff
“Definitely taking care of my service games. I do think I’m a better server than her, but I think she took care more of the plus-ones and plus-twos a lot better than I did.”Obviously my forehand. I mean, being more aggressive on those shots. I think I made too many errors on my forehand and backhand today,” Coco Gauff said.
Gauff might fall out of the top 10 in the WTA standings if she loses, despite the fact that there are no points to defend at Wimbledon owing to last year’s ban on Russian and Belarusian players. Meanwhile, Kenin will face Xinyu Wang in the second round of SW19.
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