Australian Open 2020 news - Wildander: It might best if Gauff doesn't win a Slam for three years
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Updated 27/01/2020 at 01:44 GMT
Mats Wilander believes that Coco Gauff's career might be best served if she does not win a Grand Slam before she turns 18 in 2023.
Gauff
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Gauff, still just 15 years old, made the fourth round of a Grand Slam for the second time in her young career at the Australian Open but was defeated by fellow America Sofia Kenin in three sets on Sunday.
Despite her prodigious talent and her eye-catching wins at Majors against the likes of Venus Williams (twice) and Naomi Osaka in the third round in Melbourne, Wilander feels that a more patient approach would reap benefits.
"I think it's good for her, I think the best thing in the world that could happen to her is that she doesn't win a Grand Slam before her 18th birthday," he said on the Eurosport programme Game, Schett and Mats. 3
"I don't think it's a good thing, she needs to grow as a player. Then she'll be there for 10 years and she'll win many, many Grand Slams. But if she wins one too early, I'm worried."
Wilander also believes that Kenin was able to defeat Gauff because of the amount of time they have spent together in the American tennis set-up.
"I thought [Gauff] was going to win, especially after she won the first set 7-6.
"For the American girls she's not 15, she's Coco Gauff and she's a good player but Kenin knows Gauff's weaknesses.
"They've been practising together, they've been in the locker room... For her it's tough to play against people she knows who know her."
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Gauff in tears as she departs Australian Open at hands of Kenin
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