Coco Gauff admits ‘talking down on herself’ and names athlete who sparked emotional moment | Tennis | Sport

Coco Gauff had never been beyond the fourth round of the Miami Open, her home tournament, before this year. And her expectations were especially low coming into the tournament a couple of weeks ago, as an arm injury forced her to retire mid-match in Indian Wells. The No. 4 seed even considered skipping Miami, and her team wanted her to rest, but she wanted to compete in front of the Floridian crowd, and made it all the way to the final.

Although she suffered a 6-2 4-6 6-3 defeat to Aryna Sabalenka, Gauff left with her head held high, and her unexpected run in Miami gave her a new perspective. During her runner-up speech, the 22-year-old admitted she had shed tears of joy and was able to take the positives from her time in the Hard Rock Stadium, even though she missed out on the title.

And Gauff later explained that she could be prone to “talking down” about herself, but had been inspired by Olympic figure skating champion Alysa Liu during her emotional post-match moment. The fourth seed started welling up while sitting on her bench immediately after losing the final, explaining that it was a feeling of gratitude, rather than disappointment.

“I think I can talk down on myself and things like that, but in that moment… An athlete that I was inspired by at the Winter Olympics was Alysa Liu, and I had the mindset today, that regardless of what happens, you lose, but there is no real loss in the situation,” Gauff said.

“I was just looking at my box and seeing all my family and friends, and hearing them in the crowd, and I know how much they supported me just to be on this stage, so I was just thinking more gratitude and things like that.”

There was some regret for Gauff immediately after the match, but the two-time Grand Slam champion knew it was a positive to make it all the way to the final given her recent injury problems. “It is a mindset shift, because obviously as soon as you lose a final, it’s tough,” she added.

“You could see on the bench before, I was just thinking about the match and replaying all the points. Then after, it’s over, you just learn from it. I’m grateful, because I didn’t think to be here, and I’m here, and I know I can repeat this and come home with a bigger trophy, and I feel confident in that.”

While her preparations for the Miami Open weren’t ideal after suffering with a nerve issue in her arm, Gauff also learned to rely on her natural instincts and years of hard work and experience.

She explained: “Sometimes, I feel like for me to do well in the tournament, my preparation has to be perfect because I’m someone that prides myself in it. But also, I know that the years and years of work don’t come undone in one week, so I think sometimes I feel like I can enter tournaments and not just have a great practice week and think I lost my tennis. That’s not the case. Actually, I was practising good this week, but it was limited practice, given the rain and injury.”

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