Coco Gauff Makes Honest Admission on Mental Health After Historic US Open Round Win

After enjoying a successful French Open campaign ending with the Suzanne-Lenglen cup in her hands, Coco Gauff took to Wimbledon as a favorite. But her journey at the grass court major came to an end in the first round against Ukraine’s Dayana Yastremska. Following that shocking exit, Gauff said, “I mean, obviously, I’m not going to dwell on this too long, because I want to do well at the U.S. Open. Maybe losing here (in the) first round isn’t the worst thing in the world.” However, the American failed to impress her fans at the Canadian Open and Cincinnati Open.

These results sparked major doubt about her chances at the 2025 US Open. But guess what? Gauff is looking in supreme form in Flushing Meadows at the moment. She started her campaign with a three-set win over Australia’s Ajla Tomljanović. Following that came a straight-sets triumph over Donna Vekic, and now she yet again bags an impressive victory in the third round. She defeated Poland’s Magdalena Frech by 6-3,6-1 in this match. She has now entered the fourth round of the US Open for the fourth year in a row.

Coco Gauff looked quite solid from the baseline today, and she committed much fewer double faults (4) today, as well. During the match, Gauff secured 12 winners, created  11 break points, and converted five of those chances. She’ll now face Naomi Osaka in the next round. But what Gauff really said after this impressive victory, though? In her post-match interview, Gauff stated, “I thought today I played well. Overall, I’m really happy with how I played and to be through to the next round. It’s been an emotional week. I think I needed those tough moments to be able to move forward.“

With this win, Coco Gauff has now also reached the second week of a Grand Slam for the sixteenth time. The only American woman with more second-week Slam appearances before age 22 is Venus Williams (in the Open Era). Williams had 17 in her bag. Gauff had a bit of trouble handling the pressure in the previous match. But this time it was picture-perfect for the American! She further added, “I was putting so much pressure on myself, but I’m really out here just trying to enjoy it and not focus so much on results, but the process, and I think today showed that I was really having fun out there.” But what really happened in her previous match, though?

Coco Gauff broke down in tears in the middle of her match against Donna Vekic

There have been a lot of talks already surrounding Coco Gauff’s constant issues with her serve. In order to overcome her biggest weakness in her game, she brought in biomechanical coach Gavin MacMillan. Along with this coach, Gauff put in a lot of extra hours on the practice courts in an attempt to fix her own serving woes. But the results? 

She committed 10 double faults in her first round match, and it was followed by 8 against Vekic in the second round. Coco Gauff had committed around 320 double faults before the start of the US Open, and failing to reduce the numbers even after bringing in a specialist in her team, brought added pressure in her mind. As a result of this, she even broke down in tears during the changeovers in her match against Donna Vekic. However, despite a little breakdown, her never-say-die attitude saw her through to a hard-fought victory against the Croatian.

Following that match, Gauff said, “I just show people what it’s like to be a human, and I have bad days, but I think it’s more about how you get up after those bad moments and how you show up after that. I think today I showed that I can get up after feeling the worst I’ve ever felt on the court.” She also said that this is one of the most nervous tournaments for her in general, and these serving woes added to those pressures. 

Talking about what really left her emotional during that match, Coco Gauff said, “It was just nerves and just pressure, honestly, and I’m someone that usually can thrive on that. There’s been a lot on me this tournament, more than usual, which I expected coming in.” During her tearful on-court interview, Coco Gauff also thanked Simone Biles, who was watching her play from the stands. Gauff added, “If she can go on a six-inch beam and do that under all the pressure of the world, then I can hit the ball on (this court).” She said that knowing Biles’ story with all the things she went through mentally inspired her a lot, and her presence did really help her see through this challenge.

Seeing all this, tennis legend Lindsay Davenport called on tennis fans to “take a step back” in their expectations of Coco Gauff, while Jim Courier hailed her resilience amid all the outside pressure. What are your thoughts on Gauff’s incredible run amid all the challenges of higher expectations at the 2025 US Open? Catch every key moment from the US Open as it happens.