On their exits, Gauff sets sights on US Open as Eala draws praise
LONDON—Before Wimbledon began, Coco Gauff reflected on the significance of her breakthrough performance at the place six years ago—a run to the fourth round at age 15—and what aspirations she harbored as she prepared to return.
“Even when I see videos of me during that time, it just doesn’t feel like it’s me. It felt like a dream. I’ll always have special memories from that run and, I guess, it definitely fueled the belief that I can be on tour and live out my dream,” she told The Associated Press.
“It’s something that always holds a special place in my heart. Obviously, I would love to win this tournament just for it to be like a full-circle moment,” she continued. “I feel like it would be like the start of the dream, and—I don’t want to say ‘the finish,’ because I obviously have a lot of career left, but—a full-circle type of situation.”
A week after that conversation, the No. 2-ranked Gauff was out of the bracket at the All England Club in the first round with a 7-6 (3), 6-1 loss to unseeded Dayana Yastremska at No. 1 Court on Tuesday night. Gauff was undone by serving troubles, including nine double-faults, and more than two dozen unforced errors in all, not to mention Yastremska’s hard, flat groundstrokes.
Filipino star Alex Eala also exited after the first round, but not after putting defending champion Barbora Krejcikova on the brink of a stunning upset.
“I would like to start by giving credit to Alex. I mean, what the hell she played in the first set,” Krejcikova, a two-time Grand Slam champion, said. “She was smashing the ball, cleaning the line. Wow, it’s the next generation coming.”
Krejcikova overcame Eala, 3-6, 6-2, 6-1, on Tuesday.
It was an abrupt, and mistake-filled, exit for Gauff, who so recently earned her second Grand Slam title—at the French Open via a three-set victory over No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka in the final.
Tricky transition
After Tuesday’s defeat, Gauff said, “I definitely was struggling in the locker room. I don’t like losing. The main thing I’m sure my team and everyone is going to tell me [is]: ‘You did well at Roland-Garros. Don’t be so upset.’ Things like that.”
But as much as she’ll want to move on and focus on what’s to come, the 21-year-old American acknowledged as she dabbed away the tears welling in her eyes during her news conference that she felt “a little bit disappointed in how I showed up today.”
It’s instructive to remember—setting aside that captivating 2019 debut, which featured a victory over Venus Williams—that Wimbledon’s grass courts actually have produced Gauff’s least successful Grand Slam results.
It’s not easy to manage the tricky transition from the Roland-Garros clay to the Wimbledon grass. There’s a reason it’s been a decade since a woman won both in the same season—and a reason that woman was Serena Williams.
By the end of the night, Gauff was eager to look ahead to the upcoming North American hard-court circuit, culminating with a trip to New York in late August.
“I mean, obviously I’m not going to dwell on this too long, because I want to do well at the US Open. Maybe losing here [in the] first round isn’t the worst thing in the world,” she said, “because I have time to reset.”
