AUSTRALIAN OPEN

January 19, 2025

Coco Gauff

Press Conference

C. GAUFF/B. Bencic

5-7, 6-2, 6-1

THE MODERATOR: Coco, quite a tough match out there today. Your first three-set match of the season. Talk us through how you came back from that first set.

COCO GAUFF: Yeah, she was playing great tennis. Belinda is obviously a great player, no matter what form she's in. I just was trying to be more aggressive in the second and third. Kind of play bigger because she was playing so big. So yeah.

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. Do you watch tapes of your matches after? What are you seeing when you're watching yourself now versus when you would watch yourself like last summer?

COCO GAUFF: Yeah, sometimes I watch. I wouldn't say it's something I do regularly. I definitely don't ever watch like a full match. I'll maybe watch clips or like highlights sometimes.

Yeah, I don't know. I think I'm playing definitely a little bit more aggressive tennis than last summer. Obviously everybody knows I can run, so... I don't want that to be the basis of my game.

Obviously just trying to play more aggressive when I can. It's obviously tough when you're playing bigger hitters.

Yeah, I think that's the main difference. Just overall confidence and positivity, as well.

Q. After that first set, how much were you in the mindset of, I need to do something differently, and/or did you get any sort of suggestions along those lines from your coaches?

COCO GAUFF: Yeah, I just got literally one, which was to be more aggressive. That was basically it (smiling).

She was playing great tennis. I was playing a lot of defense. I felt like my balls were landing short. I knew that.

Obviously when I lost that set, I knew I was playing a bit too passive at moments. Again, like I said, it's tough when you're playing someone who is standing on top of the baseline and ripping. I almost just kind of had to play like her, honestly, just to get out of that.

Yeah, I think I just started going for my shots more and being okay with maybe making more unforced errors and hopefully seeing the reward later on.

Q. How much going into any match against another top player who has experience and success are you focused on what they might do as opposed to what you want to do?

COCO GAUFF: I think I would say it's mostly on me, mostly focused on what I can do on my end of the court.

Obviously you're ready for tendencies and things like that. At the end of the day you can only control how you play; you can't control how they play. I just try to focus on what I can do.

As the match goes on, obviously you pick up on tendencies, things like that. As far as like prematch, it's definitely more so what I want to do to them.

As the match goes on, maybe she's going down the line a lot when the ball is here or something like that. Yeah, at the end of the day I feel like I play better when I am playing more proactive tennis than reactive.

Q. On Friday night Djokovic talked about some things tennis could change, especially to call young audience. He talk about some show during the sets, halftime show like Super Bowl or NBA. Would you be interested in something like that, some more show?

COCO GAUFF: I mean, it's only a minute on changeovers. I mean, it's a great suggestion if we had like a real halftime like those sports do.

I think the issue is that we only have a minute, which I honestly think that our changeovers should be a little bit longer here, because by the time you walk to your seat, it's only 45 seconds. But that's another thing.

Yeah, I mean, I guess it depends how long you want the show to go on (smiling). I don't think it will be as much as like NFL where it's like an actual 15-minute halftime. That would be maybe too long.

I mean, I'm open. I think the sport can be fun and there's things that could happen. It would be tough with only like a minute and a half to make something like crazy happen.

Maybe hire some street performers on the street. Do a little quick 90-second routine, something like that. I don't know.

Yeah, that's definitely an interesting thought. I was not expecting that from Novak. I didn't see it (smiling).

Q. When you come off a challenging match like today, there's a physical recovery you go through, but what is the emotional recovery process given you've got to back up in 48 hours?

COCO GAUFF: I mean, honestly like two-out-of-three, at this stage of my career is not that physically hard for me. Yeah, the off-season I just put in so much work physically, so I'm not worried at all about recovering emotionally or mentally.

I mean, honestly, United Cup was a little bit more exhausting because of the fact that I finished at 1:00 a.m. one night, then had to fly across the country and play. That was more of the mental/emotional test.

Honestly, I feel like after playing that whole United Cup, I felt pretty invincible from that.

Yeah, I definitely feel like, regardless of my next match, I don't think emotionally or physically that will take a toll.

Q. Can you explain your message on the camera?

COCO GAUFF: Yeah, it was funny, a couple people didn't know what I meant. You can't access it in the U.S. anymore.

My phone, I could not access it after my match. I honestly thought I would be able to get away with it because I was in Australia. I guess it's something with my number. I don't know. I have to do some research.

Hopefully it comes back. I don't know. It's really sad. I've been on the app since it was called Musical.ly. Yeah, I love TikTok. It's like an escape. I honestly do that before matches. I guess it will force me to read books more, so yeah, be more of a productive human probably. Maybe it's a blessing in disguise. Everything happens for a reason.

I do have a feeling that it will somehow come back.

Q. More sort of generally related to that, tennis players get the pen handed to them after these matches. How often do you think ahead of time about what you want to write? Is it always spur-of-the-moment?

COCO GAUFF: It's like a mix of both. For sure when I wrote about the L.A. fires, I knew I was going to write that, just to thank our firefighters, just spread awareness through the world to just think about not just U.S. firefighters but everywhere-around-the-world firefighters.

Today I did think about the TikTok before the match. Yeah, I got to say something about TikTok. The two days where I wrote like the shovel and things like that, I didn't think about it before.

I always know an idea maybe of what I want to write, but I don't know how I'm going to execute it. I do get stage fright where I suddenly forget how to write things.

Yeah, I definitely almost forgot how to draw a heart today. The first day I definitely forgot what a shovel looked like. I got a lot of crap from my United Cup team about my shovel (smiling).

Q. Can we look ahead to Paula, I think you're 3-3 or something like that against her.

COCO GAUFF: Yeah, I don't know.

Q. Can you talk through the challenges she presents, what you've done, how things went in your recent match, Beijing?

COCO GAUFF: Yeah, it was Beijing.

I just remember her playing great tennis. I honestly don't know how I got out of that match. She was playing great tennis. Honestly, I don't remember a lot. I know we split sets, and I was down a break or something like that.

She's a tough opponent. Every time I play her, you know it is going to be a tough match. She's a great player, coming off some great momentum.

Yeah, hopefully I can play good tennis. But I expect her to bring her best. It's a high-stakes match. But I'm excited. I love competing. I feel like these matches will only make me better.

Q. What makes her tough?

COCO GAUFF: Just her physicality. She can obviously serve well on both wings of the court. Yeah, I just think her physicality. She's a great mover and can play aggressive. Yeah, I think she's an all-around player, complete player.

Q. On the topic of books, last year you were doing the reading challenge. Where did you end up with and what's the plan for this year?

COCO GAUFF: I think I got, like, 18 or 20 books last year. Somewhere between that.

This year I set the goal 'cause my boyfriend and I, we set it on the year. The goal is 25. I'm pretty confident I'm not going to get there. But shoot for the sky.

If I get around the same amount, if I can get to 20, that would be... I'm off to a bad start, because I haven't read a single page yet this year because of TikTok (smiling). Like I said, I think it will force me to read books.

Q. Any standouts from last year?

COCO GAUFF: Definitely The Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros. I love that book. I think they're adapting it to a TV show.

I'm hoping they don't mess it up, because the book is really good. I read the second version. I think she has a third one coming out this year. I will read that. I love anything fantasy, dragons, anything like that.

Q. We talk a lot about how well you play in the heat. I'm wondering whether that was a factor today in the match? More generally, do you think playing in the heat favors you because it makes you better or you just handle it better than the opponent?

COCO GAUFF: Yeah, I mean, obviously in the heat, the court plays faster. As far as court speed, it was probably was more of an advantage for her because I think she likes to play faster on faster courts.

I guess weather-wise, I felt pretty confident in my physicality. Against anyone, I feel pretty confident in my physical fitness and things like that. Also being from Florida, like it was hot, but Florida in September, August, is really disgusting.

Pre-China, before I went to China, I was struggling just to hit five minutes forehand cross or backhand cross. It was, like, a struggle. When you have that experience, you're like, if I can get through that...

Or doing 400s or 800s on the track in that weather, anything like that is a blessing. So today felt like a blessing (smiling).