ROLAND GARROS

June 4, 2025

Coco Gauff

Press Conference

C. GAUFF/M. Keys

6-7, 6-4, 6-1

THE MODERATOR: Tough fight today against a fellow American, but into the semifinals again. Just give us your thoughts on the match today.

COCO GAUFF: Yeah, I'm very happy with how I managed to fight today. Yeah, it was a tough match. Madison is a tough opponent, but glad to be in the semis.

THE MODERATOR: Questions.

Q. Over your career you have become known for your fighting spirit and your toughness in tough moments even when you're not playing your best tennis. When you were younger I guess in Florida somewhere playing in juniors, at what point did you realize that you were tougher than your opponents?

COCO GAUFF: Yeah, I think I played a match in Orange Bowl. I'm pretty sure I was down 6-1, 5-1, and came back and won the match. That's one of the memories that always sticks to me.

It's something I think about. I didn't think about it today, but at times in matches I have thought about that. Just that I have had that in me from a young age. When times become more difficult, knowing that I can, you know, dig deep in those tough moments.

Q. Where do you think that came from?

COCO GAUFF: I think just a love to win, the will to win. Yeah, I don't think sometimes it's not something that's taught or anything. It's just I have always had that in me, and not just in tennis but in everything. I'm a very competitive person.

My philosophy is if I can just leave it all out there, then the loss will hurt a lot less than regrets of maybe not giving it your all.

Q. Looking ahead to tomorrow, obviously we don't know who you'll play. I'm wondering whether you have watched, seen, or heard any of what's going on right now in Chatrier? And if it is Boisson who you play, what do you expect the scene and the crowd to be like out there?

COCO GAUFF: Yeah, I saw she was up. Mirra was up 5-3 and, like, some points of the tiebreaker just because I was getting ready to come here, but obviously she's having a great tournament, Boisson.

And what do I expect to see? I have played Jasmine in Rome. I've played Jasmine and Sara in Rome. I've played Caroline and Kristina here. So I have some experience playing, like, against a crowd that maybe is not rooting for you. It's something I'm looking forward to if it were to happen.

Obviously if I were to play Mirra, it would be a tough match. Maybe a little bit less crowd interaction with that, but either way I have a tough match as a Grand Slam semifinal, and they both deserve to be there.

Q. If it is Boisson, you mentioned about drawing on other experiences. How do you keep that discipline of not reacting and not knowing the fact that the majority of the people in that stadium don't want you to win and want you to fail? How do you cope with that as an athlete?

COCO GAUFF: Yeah, I think there are two ways I have done it in the past. Either, A, just pretend they're cheering for you, and B, just using it and not letting that get to you.

I have been in crowds where they are 99% for me, so I don't have an issue with it. You know, I hope everyone will be respectful and things. If not, it's cool.

I think, you know, it makes sports exciting, and I can't get irritated at the fact that someone is rooting for their hometown hero, because I would do the same.

Yeah, I think it's just something that I will mentally prepare for if it were to happen and expect and be ready for.

Q. You mentioned on the court that you just went up in tension. Did that solve everything? Because it seemed like there was more rockiness throughout, and it was just that kind of match where everybody was kind of up and down.

COCO GAUFF: Yeah.

Q. Were there other things you did? Was there a plan B that you went to or anything else that you do in those situations where you're not feeling your game or the ball like you would like to?

COCO GAUFF: Yeah, I mean, I wasn't feeling the ball obviously to start the match, so I changed tension just to see if it helped. Maybe it did, and maybe it didn't. I did go from 4-1 to 5-4, so I'd like to think that it helped a little bit. Sometimes the stuff could just be mental. Maybe you're thinking, Oh, I changed my racquet, I'm going to play better, and you start doing it. I don't know.

I was just trying to be aggressive, and I had chances in the tiebreaker. I don't like the way I played that tiebreaker. Although it was close, I think I played too passive.

You know, usually if you're playing too passive, in the end the more aggressive player is going to win. I knew in the second and the third that I had to try my best. To be aggressive against Maddie is tough. Aggressive against Maddie looks different than aggressive against somebody else.

Q. Did you watch the Carlos Alcaraz documentary on Netflix?

COCO GAUFF: No, I haven't watched the documentary, no.

Q. But for sure you heard about his philosophy that he likes to spend time with friends and party in order to achieve his things?

COCO GAUFF: Yes.

Q. How about you? Do you feel like you also need that kind of normal life to achieve your goals?

COCO GAUFF: Yeah, definitely. It's something that I'm trying to do more just because I feel like so much of my life I was so locked in.

Obviously it's great to be locked in, but it was a little bit easier in juniors just because we would play a tournament and then you're home for three weeks. Then you go play another tournament, home for another three weeks. Obviously on tour it's quite the opposite.

So, yeah, it's something I do try to model off of him. I have told him that I have tried to, like, have fun on the court like him and smile as much as he does, and that is something that he inspires me to do that more.

Just enjoy the life in general, I find you play better. Yeah, for sure, I think he has a great philosophy, and it is something that I am trying to model. I don't think I'll be out there smiling as much as Carlos does, sometimes when he lose and wins a match, but every now and then to try to crack some in.

I'm usually a more serious person on the court, but I try to remember that it's just a game and try to treat it like that.

Q. When I was in Madrid, you told us that your strength in this tournament was your service.

COCO GAUFF: Yeah.

Q. Right now you seem to be struggling a little bit with it. Can you explain it?

COCO GAUFF: Yeah, I think in the first set -- well, in that tiebreaker honestly it was just a little bit of nerves and knowing that I had to try to hit a good serve, because she was crushing my second-serve return.

After that, I felt that I served a lot better in the second and third set obviously, so I was just trying to go for it more and honestly just try to kick it as much as possible and try to get it off the court, because she was running around and crushing forehand returns.

Yeah, it's something that I will always have to work on, but I'm glad I didn't let what happened in the tiebreaker earlier in the match affect the next two sets.

Q. In sports you obviously have to have great skill sets, but fighting spirit is a key. Does your fighting spirit give you the most satisfaction in your game? Secondly, you're a great sports fan. What athletes, what players in other sports have inspired you in terms of that? What players specifically?

COCO GAUFF: Yeah, with the fighting spirit, yeah, I think it's something that I have had naturally, but trying to be more positive is something I had to work on. Yeah, I'm really happy with how I'm able to reset and be positive and try my best to give the best mentality to show up.

People from other sports that I have looked up to, Sydney McLaughlin is someone that I really like and look up to in that way. Simone Biles, I think she just pushes herself.

To me that's crazy, because in tennis we had Rafa and Roger and Novak all pushing each other, but in gymnastics she kind of doesn't really have anyone. The fact she is able to move that needle against herself I think is pretty cool.

And then you have the obvious like LeBron and Michael with those and Kobe with that Mamba mentality. I think those are people I look up to outside of tennis, but in tennis the usual: Serena, Rafa, Novak, Roger. The best of the best is people I look up to too.

Q. Since you just talked about that you changed the racquet to adjust the condition. Normally how many racquets do you bring on the court, and what variety of tension of strings do you prepare if you don't forget to bring it on the court?

COCO GAUFF: Yeah, if I don't forget -- when I forget, zero. When I remember, six (smiling). I went 0 for 6.

Usually I have four of the tension that I most think I'm going to probably use the whole match just because of ball changes and things. Then I have two, either tighter or lower. Today they were tighter because the racquet I started with, for sure, I knew I wasn't going to want to go any lower than that.

Yeah, I just went tighter. I thought colder day, start the match off with a little bit of coolness. I practiced with the looser racquet on the colder days. I don't know.

Also, I don't know if it was a tension thing. It's really two pounds, so yeah, it matters, but it's also just two pounds, so it probably didn't matter that much.

Q. On the roller-coaster nature of the match, both in the second set and the third set you were, like, double break, 4-1. What are you telling yourself in the third set when you're in that same position to avoid what happened in the second set?

COCO GAUFF: Yeah, honestly I felt like it was an important game just because she was up double break, 4-1, and I came back, and then that happened in the second. So I was, like, usually in a match when you're up double break, 4-1, obviously you want to win that game, but you're a little bit more relaxed, but I was just like, I've got be more aggressive and put the ball in the court.

The 4-1 game in the second I think I missed, like, four balls in the net, three forehands and a backhand in the net. So I was just telling myself, like, Make her earn those points, make her hit winners on those points, don't give her so many errors.

Yeah, and then I was happy to get through that game and, you know, after that I felt pretty comfortable.