After having a wonderful clay court season, where she reached the finals in Madrid and Rome, before lifting the second major title of her career at Roland Garros, everyone expected a similar run from Coco Gauff on grass. At first, she was knocked out of the Grass Court Championships in Berlin in her very first match. It was followed by yet another shocking early exit from Wimbledon. Nothing went her way in the first-round match against Dayana Yastremska at Wimbledon. However, now it’s time for Gauff to bounce back, and she couldn’t have asked for a better stage to do that!

After her disappointing exit from Wimbledon, Coco Gauff admitted she was “disappointed” and “struggling” in the locker room. She said she doesn’t really like losing, and she was quite disappointed with the way she performed in that match. However, having said that, Gauff also mentioned, “Obviously, I’m not going to dwell on this too long because I want to do well at the US Open. Maybe losing in the first round here isn’t the worst thing in the world because I have time to reset.”

Coco Gauff has already played 41 matches this season, and she has won 31 of them. Amid an already jampacked schedule, Gauff has now decided to take part in the WTA 1000 event in Montreal. “One of the reasons is that it is a WTA 1000, and it is mandatory to play them (laughs). Seriously, it’s a great tournament, so I try not to miss any of these,” said Gauff.

She further went on to add, “Obviously, being American, I am very close to home, so it’s a very easy, very pleasant trip for me. I always enjoy it a lot here; the people are super affectionate. Also, I really like the change that happens every summer between Toronto and Montreal, it makes you approach the tournaments with a lot of freshness, as if everything were new.”

Coco Gauff will start her campaign in this tournament against Danielle Collins. This will be her first meeting with ‘Danimal’. About who will have the last laugh of their very first meeting, only time will tell! But before that, here is a rundown of Gauff’s pre-match interview.

Despite being handed a tricky draw, Coco Gauff claimed that she’s extremely happy to be back in Montreal, and now she’s hoping to have a good start on hard courts. Last year, she was defeated by Diana Shnaider in the R16 by 4-6,1-6. This year, she hopes to make a better run.

During her interview, she shed light on her French Open campaign, saying, “It was a very special moment, a dream title, perhaps also because it is a surface that I have always felt very comfortable on.” She added that before this tournament, she had only one title in her entire career on clay, and that too came in a minor event (WTA 250). But having a title of this magnitude on clay now means a lot to her, Gauff said.

However, both Roland Garros and Wimbledon are things of the past now, and what lies ahead is to repeat a similar feat at the US Open, which she had done almost two years ago. Speaking about this challenge of changing surfaces, Coco Gauff went on to add, “Tennis forces you to constantly adapt to new situations, so you always have to be prepared for those changes; so now my intention is to repeat the same play and have a good North American swing on cement.”

Will Coco Gauff fare better on the North American hard courts?

Remember what American legend John McEnroe had said about Coco Gauff in 2019? After witnessing Gauff’s incredible 6-4,6-4 win against the five-time Wimbledon champion, Venus Williams, in that first-round battle, McEnroe said, “Gauff’s not only physically mature, but also mentally. I look at the way she plays. If she’s not number one in the world by 20, I will be absolutely shocked.”

Only five teenagers in the history of the sport had managed to reach the top of the WTA singles rankings so far. Although Gauff is yet to reach that spot, the 21-year-old could get a chance to reduce the gap with the current world number one with an impressive performance at the North American hard-court swing.

Aryna Sabalenka has a good lead at the top of the WTA Rankings. She is currently on 12,420 points and has a 4,751 lead over the world number 2, Coco Gauff. With such a big lead, the Belarusian is set to retain her crown for at least a couple more months. But things could become a bit tricky if Coco Gauff manages to find some good footing in these upcoming tournaments. Last year, Sabalenka won the US Open title, so she will have 2,000 ranking points to defend.

Although Coco Gauff was eliminated in the R16 of the US Open last year, she still has a significant number of ranking points to defend from her title triumphs at the WTA Finals and the China Open. She’s currently the closest person to catching up to Sabalenka in the singles ranking. In 2024, Gauff took part in the Canadian Open and reached the third round. So, she has a chance of closing the difference by 120 points.

With Sabalenka’s absence, Gauff will lead the draw here as the number one seed. Last year, Gauff didn’t fare too well in the North American campaigns, but this year, if she manages to put up a good show, she’ll definitely have the chance to reduce the gap with the world number one.