Coco Gauff Admits Struggle With Panic Attacks After Emotional US Open Breakdown

Coco Gauff is through to round four of the US Open. This marks her 16th grand slam fourth-round appearance. Her age? 21 years. Gauff stormed into the fourth round after a breezy straight-sets victory against #28 seed Magdalena Frech with a scoreline of 6-3, 6-1 at the Arthur Ashe Stadium. Her journey in the tournament so far has been a rollercoaster. Just six days with biomechanics expert Gavin MacMillan was understandably not enough to completely eliminate the service woes that have haunted her for so long.

While MacMillan’s presence boosted Gauff’s morale, she still struggled in her first round against Aussie Ajla Tomljanović, trudging through the game with 10 double faults and 6 lost service games, but won in three sets with a scoreline of 6-4, 6-7 (2), 7-5. For her second round, she was pitted against Croatian Donna Vekic. The match itself was temperamental as both players struggled with their serve. Vekic committed 9 double faults in the first set against Gauff’s comparatively lesser 7. When the scoreline of the first set was 4-4, Vekic took the lead to 6-5 and forced the game to a tiebreaker, which Gauff won. But by then, the emotions had gotten the better of her. She buried her face in a towel, her hands shuddering as she sobbed.

She cracked under the duress of it all. When asked if it was her pressure release mechanism during her chat with Sky Sports, Gauff responded with honesty, “Um, no.. I.. it was.. I mean, it was, I think a panic attack. I’ve had them before off court, but it was the first time that happened to me on the court.” After all, even the stars of tennis are human, too. Clearly overwhelmed, Gauff “was just trying to calm myself down and just breathe in the moment.” She found her reprieve and renewed will in the washroom, where she went when Vekic took a medical timeout.

“And that was kind of why I went to the bathroom after that first set to reset. And, yeah, I think, you know, yeah, it was one of those moments that I just was like, I want to get off the court right now and it be over with.” Then came Gauff’s moment of reckoning, through the crowd. The stadium erupted for Coco in a display of solidarity, to tell her that she wasn’t alone, “But I think for me, I needed that to happen because I think the support that I got afterwards, I just realized how much people love me and how much I should love myself too in those moments.”

When you forget your worth, there are always those who remind you of who you are and what you can be. Gauff went into round two of the US Open and exited with a win and

“a learning experience” that she will remember for the rest of her career. The lesson: A stark reminder that there is a lot more to be grateful for than losing on a court. Life always has a bigger picture.

Coco Gauff is the latest tennis icon falling prey to panic struggles

If you thought tennis pro players (ATP and WTA) were invincible, think again. They are more vulnerable than most of us. Their lives are even more convoluted—months spent on tour across the world for various events, a jam-packed schedule, which has often been heavily criticized by even the crème of tennis, not to mention the most coveted rank positions that play out as brutally as the Hunger Games. Did we mention the heartbreak that accompanies every defeat?

Of course, the above factors are subjective. Stress is never one size that fits all. But Gauff’s journey isn’t solitary. The former world no. 1, Simona Halep, had a similar incident in the 2022 edition of the French Open. Halep had previously reigned as the queen of Roland Garros in 2018 and was eyeing the very familiar throne one more time. In her second-round matchup against Qinwen Zheng, she unexpectedly fell victim to a panic attack even though she was leading. She eventually called the doctor onto the court.

“I probably put pressure on myself too much, because I really wanted to do well,” she said afterwards. “But I was leading, so there is no reason, in particular, why it happened. But it happened, so I have to accept it. It’s something normal that everybody has.” The landslide to defeat was rapid from that point since Halep couldn’t physically hold a candle to 19-year-old Zheng. Her lead faded, and the match ended in a three-set defeat and Halep’s eventual exit.

Connect the dots. Coco Gauff’s case screams a similar state of affairs. Gauff has been under tremendous pressure to either fix her serving woes or walk the plank. When Gauff’s form came under threat, the 21-year-old left no stone unturned in her search for the master who could recalibrate her serve without faulting. Gauff, during her R1 post-match presser, confessed how exhausting her new training routines have been. She pulled off a win against a player who handed Serena Williams a defeat in what was the last match of her professional career, Ajla Tomljanović.

High time that tennis, as a sport, collectively looked into mental exhaustion, fatigue, and anxiety as parameters for player safety. Clean mental health as a part of the sport’s hygiene would address a lot more loopholes that underline any behavior associated with stress. Do we need to wait for another player’s outburst to lend a hand of support? Let us know in a comment.

Meanwhile, for minute-by-minute relay from the US Open,

head to the EssentiallySports Live Blog! Speaking of the stars of the hard court swing, EssentiallySports’ host, Nathan Walroth, spotted Mirra Andreeva and sneaked in a few tidbits from her about the ongoing US Open.