Coco Gauff ‘happy’ after losing Wimbledon semi-final and disagrees with BBC pundit | Tennis | Sport

Coco Gauff insists she’s “happy” despite squandering a massive chance to reach her first Wimbledon final. The 22-year-old had the perfect chance to win a dramatic 10-point tiebreak against Karolina Muchova before putting what looked like a routine winner into the net. Muchova then won the next three points, converting her second match point, to wrap up a 6-2, 1-6, 7-6 victory and become the latest Czech woman into the final at SW19.

Yet despite the heartache of missing out on Saturday’s championship match, Gauff insists she’s pleased – because she’d never progressed past round four before this year. Three times she fell at the fourth-round hurdle, including on her debut in 2019 when she was just 15 years old. The American told journalists: “There’s a lot of positives. Obviously got super close. Definitely going to think about the second, third, last point, whatever, but overall I think it was a positive tournament for me. A match for sure to remember. It’s tough to digest, but I don’t know, I’m happy.”

Grilled on her missed match point, two-time Grand Slam winner Gauff added: “I mean, there’s one thing to be, like, why play a dropshot, but then I think how many points I won off the dropshot. Yes, people who don’t watch tennis are going to be like, ‘Why did you do that?’ At the end of the day, that’s the choice I made.

“Was it the right one in that moment? Maybe not. But then also, if I make it, everyone’s going to say how clutch of a shot that was. I think that’s just tennis. You lose some points off margins. Honestly, the return came back like in a tricky place for me. The bounce kind of caught me off guard. I just panicked a little bit.

“I think it just takes moments like this to learn from, have more of a clear, concise plan of what I want to do. At the end of the day, I left it all out there. I don’t have any regrets. I think it’s just obviously points I want to make better decisions on. But that’s how you learn and become a better player.

“I think about [how] I was down 7-4 in the second round, and I’m here in the semis. I had a point on my racquet at a tournament, I don’t know, I didn’t think it would be this year I would make the semis. It’s not a painful story.

“I think thousands of people would love to lose the semi-finals at Wimbledon on match point. This is something I wouldn’t love to experience again, for sure no. I think it will make my next moment when I win a match like this even sweeter.

EXPRESS SPORT ON FB! Get all the best sports news and much more on our Facebook page

“I had a match earlier this year, I saved six match points. It’s just one of those days where it didn’t go my way. Somebody had to lose, and unfortunately it was me today.”

BBC pundit Tracy Austin claimed that Gauff must have changed her mind six times before opting for a dropshot. The Floridian made it clear she disagreed with her compatriot despite admitting she’d change her mind if given the chance to replay the point. Gauff added: “Honestly, I didn’t change my mind too much.

“I feel like if I had to do it over, I probably would have gone for a slice forehand down the line. The ball bounce wasn’t really like that high. Don’t know if I would have hit a forehand or not. I don’t know. I have to watch it back honestly to say.

“Yeah, I mean, it’s tough because it was on my match point, but at the end of the day, if this point happens at 1-All in the tiebreaker, we wouldn’t be sitting here talking about it. But it happened on match point.

“It’s a learning experience. I know I can do better and improve on that, and going with a higher-margin shot in a pressure moment, for sure. I’m going to think about it tonight. I don’t know if I’ve ever lost a match after having match point. If I did, I don’t remember the last time.

“I don’t know how long it will take me [to get over]. I don’t think that long, honestly. I think, yeah, right after I was a lot of emotions right after the match. But now I’m just, like, one decision away, maybe I’m sitting in this press conference in a different mood.

“I mean, I look at Roger [Federer] lost match points here, Jannik [Sinner] obviously at Roland Garros. Every great champion has this happen in their career. Maybe this is something I need to be on their level.”