'Mental victories and suffering' - How Coco Gauff put together season's best win streak of 15 matches in a row
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Updated 05/10/2023 at 15:03 GMT
Coco Gauff has now won her last 15 matches in a row and has spoken about "mental victories and suffering" as she looks to win the China Open this week. Gauff, who won the US Open last month, is into the quarter-finals in Beijing where she will face Maria Sakkari. Gauff has won 21 of her last 22 matches and has emerged as one of the best players on the WTA Tour.
Watch the moment Gauff wins her first slam title with victory over Sabalenka at US Open
As summer swings into autumn, Coco Gauff’s momentum is showing no sign of stopping.
The 20-year-old saved four set points on her way to beating 16th seed Veronika Kudermetova in the third round of the China Open to make it 15 wins in a row, the longest winning streak on the WTA Tour this season.
Gauff’s rise over the last two months has seen her join Aryna Sabalenka and Iga Swiatek as the standout players on the WTA Tour right now.
As her winning run continues, we look back on the keys to Gauff’s success so far in Beijing and whether right now she is in fact the best in the world.
One loss since Wimbledon
When Gauff lost to fellow American Sofia Kenin in the first round of Wimbledon it felt like the sky about to fall in.
Instead that defeat has sparked a stunning leap for the 19-year-old.
She said after losing to Kenin she was “frustrated and disappointed”, but also that it made her “want to work even harder”. That determination, combined with adding Brad Gilbert and Pere Riba to her coaching team, has brought out some incredible results.
Since Wimbledon, Gauff has won 21 of her last 22 matches.
That includes title runs in Washington DC and Cincinnati, as well as the US Open, where she won her first Grand Slam. Her only defeat over the hard-court summer was against Jessica Pegula in the quarter-finals in Montreal.
Gauff’s 15-match winning streak surpasses the previous best set by Swiatek, who won 14 in a row running from the French Open to Wimbledon.
Sabalenka and Elena Rybakina have both topped out at 13-match winning streaks so far this year.
'Best athlete' and best in the world?
Andy Murray’s former coach Mark Petchey caused a bit of a stir this week by saying he thinks Gauff is the “best women's athlete to ever play tennis”.
Petchey received plenty of pushback on the claim, so without getting into that debate, how about another one - is Gauff the best player in the world right now on current form?
There's a case to be made.
Overall she hasn’t had as good a season as either Swiatek or Sabalenka, but she is arguably playing better than both over the last two months, and has beaten the top two in the world in their most recent meetings.
In Cincinnati she finally got the better of Swiatek for the first time in eight meetings, and in the US Open final she came from a set down to topple Sabalenka.
What has been impressive about Gauff in Beijing has been her resilience and commitment to the approach which saw her succeed over the North American hard-court summer.
Earlier this year she bemoaned playing too defensively in a surprise defeat at the Miami Open, saying she needed to “change my mentality”. With Gilbert and Riba on board, Gauff is playing more aggressively and certainly now has more of an air of confidence about her.
In victory over Petra Martic she spoke about it being a “mental victory” and that she was telling herself during long points to “keep suffering”. She also recognised that at times she was playing too defensive again.
“I think today I played too passive, and she was really stepping inside of the court, running me off the court. So it's something that I am trying to get better at and making it more of a first instinct. The games that I won, I won being aggressive.”
Gauff playing with the ‘pressure off’
Gauff’s soaring summer form has seen her already qualify for the season-ending WTA Finals.
After the China Open she is set to play the Zhengzhou Open, a WTA 500 tournament that begins on October 9, before heading to Cancun for the finals.
With a first Grand Slam title in her pocket and qualification secured for the WTA Finals, she says she is viewing this period as “bonus matches”.
“That's why the first two matches [in Beijing], I think I was disappointed in the way that I was playing. I think I was playing a little bit more tight, not going for my shots, not going for my serve. Today [against Kudermetova] I was telling myself try to hit above 110, 115 as much as I could, be more aggressive.
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Coco Gauff won the US Open in September
Image credit: Getty Images
"In the long run…I feel like now that the pressure is off, now that the Grand Slam season is over and I'm qualified, I think this could be a good week to continue to work on things I need to work on.”
Gauff plays sixth seed Maria Sakkari in the quarter-finals on Friday. A meeting with second seed Swiatek could await in the last four.
The 19-year-old acknowledges that she is playing with more confidence having won the US Open.
“I think having that win makes you more confident in these moments, especially the way the US Open went for me, a lot of three-set matches, a lot of tough moments.
“I think it’s way more pressure in the Grand Slam than a 1000, even though there’s still pressure, but it’s just less. I think I’m able to handle these emotions more because of that experience.
“Honestly, I do feel more confident stepping on court. Plus the way I kind of started on the scene, a lot of people wanted that for me and expected that from me. I feel like now it’s a little bit of a weight lifted and I’m able to play more freer, focus on the long-term and how to be able to set myself up to win even more.”
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