Coco Gauff Recalls ‘Panic Attack’ During Last US Open Clash Against Naomi Osaka

Coco Gauff will surely remember her match against Donna Vekic at the 2025 US Open as a seminal career moment. Despite winning the match 7-6 (5), 6-2, the American struggled with her serve and almost lost control over her nerves in the first set. “I mean, it was, I think a panic attack,” Gauff later told SkySports on what went through her head during the match against the Croatian star. Pretty commendable, how she overcame her distraught feelings. But now, an even more difficult challenge awaits!

In the Round of 16 at Flushing Meadows, Gauff will cross paths with Naomi Osaka. Without a doubt, this will be the toughest opponent for the 2023 US Open winner at this year’s competition, and the 21-year-old can’t shake off the jittery feelings, especially considering the experience she’s had with the Japanese star previously. As per an article by Ben Rothenberg from August 31, Gauff distinctly remembers how Osaka’s comforting words from six years ago didn’t serve their purpose.

This will be the first time Gauff and Osaka meet in the year’s last Grand Slam, and the former still remembers how the more experienced colleague tried to help Gauff overcome the 6-3, 6-0 defeat. “Looking back, I was definitely, like, having a panic attack on the court,” Gauff confided her mixed feelings on the moment to Rothenberg.

The viral post-match moment created a stir for all the right reasons: How Osaka tried to console the then 15-year-old Coco despite trampling over the latter in straight sets in a notable moment of sisterhood. However, as Gauff explained, her colleague’s words meant little at that moment. But that interaction, although damning for Gauff, was also the moment when Osaka knew that she had just defeated a star-in-the-making.

2019 was the year when Coco Gauff burst into the WTA scene with virility. The teenager had upset Venus Williams to make it to the Round of 16 at Wimbledon that year, and then made her debut in New York with all eyes on her. After beating Anastasia Potapova and Timea Babos, Gauff finally came across Osaka, who already had two Grand Slam titles to her name by then.

But the defending US Open champ allowed her young opponent little space, and took only two sets to oust Gauff from the competition. And yet, that meeting left a lasting impression on Naomi. And now, as they wait to lock horns once again at the hallowed grounds, Osaka can’t help but feel thrilled. “My recollections were that I remember just knowing that she was going to be a really great tennis player, which I was right. But yeah, I mean, she was what, 15 at the time, and I thought she just handled herself really well. And I knew she was going to be back there. So now to be playing her again after six years…But yeah, just to be at this point of my life and to be playing her again is honestly, for me, feels kind of special,” the 27-year-old confessed without holding back.

But hey, you couldn’t exactly blame the 2x Grand Slam winner for feeling the blues after losing the 2019 US Open match against Osaka, either. After all, she still hasn’t found the way to cope with heartbreak, and her peers know it’s never an easy ask to do so.

Coco Gauff’s peers know her anxiety isn’t something out of the ordinary

After Gauff overcame her shakiness to post a win over Vekic, the whole of Arthur Ashe Stadium got on its feet to commend her on the feat. As the teary-eyed American explained how she had to put a lid on her emotions to bag the match, she also noted that panic attacks have always been one of her worst enemies, along with the tennis foes who stand against her on the court. Thankfully, though, she needn’t explain herself too much to others.

“That’s really tough, and I don’t think outsiders really understand how complicated and difficult that is. You have to be pretty fearless to go out there and do that,” Jessica Pegula was heard lauding Gauff for the latter’s incredible display of grit. “I mean, like she said, being able to do that in front of a stadium—breaking down, going through whatever she was going through inside, and still being able to win the match and come out on the other side—that takes guts,” said Pegula on Gauff’s performance against Vekic, following her own victory over Victoria Azarenka.

But there was one face in the stands who also helped Coco overcome her troubles. The seven-time Olympic gold medalist gymnast Simone Biles attended the US Open on the day Gauff took on Vekic, and the tennis star couldn’t help but remember how Biles had gone through a similar phase in her own life and still managed to rise above the challenges. “It brought me a little bit of calm, just knowing her story with all the things she went through mentally, so she’s an inspiration for sure and her presence definitely did help me today,” Gauff said later on how she motivated herself by thinking about the gymnastics GOAT.

But will she be able to keep a hold on her nerves when she clashes against the four-time Grand Slam winner Naomi Osaka? Just a few more hours before we find out!