THE CHAMPIONSHIPS

June 28, 2025

Coco Gauff

Press Conference

THE MODERATOR: Coco, how does it feel to be back at Wimbledon?

COCO GAUFF: Yeah, it feels great to be back. I'm super happy to be here. Yeah, always grateful to be back here.

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. I saw you out there hitting balls with Mirra. How did that go? Who came out on top? Looked like you were counting.

COCO GAUFF: Well, I don't know if we were counting. I know I was down a break, so I guess she probably won that one. Oh, you were counting. That's how you know (indicating). I don't know what the score was (smiling).

Yeah, it was great. I love hitting and practicing with Mirra. She looks like she'll do well here.

Q. Really hard-hitting question from me. I've seen you have come in with a strawberry. People have been debating what it should be called. Do you have any suggestions?

COCO GAUFF: This has been in other press conferences?

Q. Just outside of this room.

COCO GAUFF: The little girl who interviewed me said his -- I don't know if it's a girl or boy, non-binary -- that their name should be Strawb, So I'm going to name it Strawb. I don't know if I like that name, so I'm going to rename it later on.

Q. Will you let us know?

COCO GAUFF: Yeah, I will (smiling).

Q. You came into the season, you said that French Open was your goal. If you are happy to share with us, what is your next goal, or if any with grass related as well?

COCO GAUFF: Yeah, I mean, the next goal coming up, obviously to have a good result here. I've lost in the fourth round a few times, so I would love to get past that stage. Yeah, I would say that's the next thing I'm looking forward to.

I would love to win this, but I'm a big believer in just conquering one step at a time. If I get past that stage, then I'll start thinking about the winning.

Q. When you do move to the grass, and I realize this was an awkward move to the grass this season for a good reason.

COCO GAUFF: Yeah.

Q. What do you focus on in terms of your game, in terms of adjusting it? I think you were speaking a couple weeks about it being a little bit of a challenge for you.

COCO GAUFF: Yeah.

Q. What do you do when you're on the practice courts? What are you trying to get better at to get past the fourth round?

COCO GAUFF: Yeah, for sure movement. It's obviously a lot different than clay. Just keeping the ball lower. Obviously clay, it's playing with a lot of height, heaviness, and that type of game. This one I feel you need to play a little bit lower and a little bit more aggressive than the clay season, which is a bit difficult just because you spend I don't know however many long weeks the clay is playing a certain type of way. Then we come on grass, and we have 13 days to completely -- not completely change, because you still have the core of your game, but just change a little bit how you play.

Yeah, I think that's the main things that I think that I would need to work on to be successful here. And then serve, I want to be pretty aggressive with the serve here just 'cause it's grass.

Q. How do you work on that in 13 days? Are you on the court a lot doing movement drills?

COCO GAUFF: Well, before Berlin I only hit twice before my first match. So I figured I wasn't going to do the best there. Yeah, I fell a couple times during that match. I was, like, I definitely need to get on the movement.

Yeah, we started. After that, I kind of did a lot more fitness and stuff on court. More movement drills, things like that on court. After that, it's just kind of refining certain things, like just getting used to playing lower.

A lot of people like to use a slice here, so just working on playing and hitting more slices and playing more slices. Little things like that that I think will make a difference in the match.

Q. Big picture, what have the last couple weeks been like for you after the French Open and just processing that, handling that, also knowing you need to get ready for another major?

COCO GAUFF: Yeah, I'm very much someone who can look ahead very quickly. You know, the first, like, two days after I was just trying to really take it in and stuff. Once I got back from New York, I was pretty much more focused on here, just thinking about what I need to do, where I feel the areas of my game I need to improve on.

Yeah, I think for me I'd rather just stay in the moment and think about this and kind of forget French and then revisit it maybe at the end of the season and celebrate it a little bit more, 'cause I do think, like, US Open I was able to sink in that a little bit more just because that was the last slam of the year.

But I still want to do really well here. I feel pretty confident on the court. Yeah, for me it was important just to forget, which is easy for me because I'm always looking for the next thing. Usually I'm someone who you have to tell to settle in more.

I don't know, I think want to get rid of it. When November comes, I'll revisit.

Q. I wanted to ask you about yesterday with Aryna and sort of what that dynamic was like after all the hubbub over the post-match stuff in Paris.

COCO GAUFF: Yeah.

Q. And whether you sort of looked at the whole situation and after Paris and what she said with some level of empathy, because you've been in the position of being the player losing the big match and what that difficulty can be for a player speaking about what just happened, addressing the opponent after a loss like that?

COCO GAUFF: Yeah, I mean, obviously some people were critiquing what she said in the speech. I didn't really care about any of that, because I know how it feels. I understand what she was trying to say.

It was a terrible condition day. I don't think I was playing well either, so I understood where she was coming from with that. Obviously some of the stuff that was said in the press, I think I was a bit more surprised about.

But yeah, I'm not someone to hold a grudge. I was talking to my circle about it. I was like, if she apologizes, like, not even publicly, it was just more so privately, I will be fine, and we'll move on. She did, and she did again when I saw her before we practiced.

Yeah, it was just water under a bridge. I know Aryna. I felt like before that, we got along pretty well anyways before all that happened. It wasn't very hard to accept that apology.

Yeah, I understand things weren't I guess translated as how she meant it to be. She understood that. I understood that's not what she meant.

Yeah, I think the TikTok was more -- we would do a TikTok anyway. We have in the past at WTA Finals and things like that. I think that was just more so to kind of show people that we are on good terms.

There's a lot of things that have been said. I'm not someone that, like, supports hate and things like that. So I thought it would be a good idea for that just so people can really see it and kind of move on, because I think we're both tired of talking about it, to be honest.

Q. It's been six years since the win against Venus Williams here. How have you grown as a player and a person since that moment?

COCO GAUFF: Yeah, I've grown a lot. I think that moment for me was the start of believing that maybe my dreams could come true. Yeah, I mean, that still feels crazy. It still feels like a dream.

Honestly I guess out of all the matches that I've won, I think that's the one that still feels the most fake, if that makes sense.

The difference now, that was like the start. I had so much belief. I feel now I've kind of regained that belief in myself. I feel like I lost it somewhere along the way, between 15 and 19. At 19 I was able to regain that. I would say 16 to 19 I was struggling with confidence and things like that, and I was able to regain that.

So if anything, I feel like I'm more similar at 21 to 15-year-old me than maybe when I probably was maybe when I was coming here at 18 or 17 than 15-year-old me just because I feel like now I still have that child-like confidence. And also just approaching the game and just having so much fun. I'm really happy to be here.

Q. About the Sabalenka thing, there's so much talk about it in U.S. media and sports TV and social media. How do you process that volume of attention? Also, I think quite a lot of people were ready for you to have some sort of clap-back. There were openings where that was possible for you to do. Was that tempting, or how easy was it to take the committed high road?

COCO GAUFF: It was very weird. I mean, at first -- like, I'm transparent. At first it was a little tempting just because the apology did come a little bit later. I thought it was going to come pretty quick.

But after that, I mean, I didn't want to fuel more hate. I'm not the person that will fuel, like, hate in the world. I think people were taking it too far. It wasn't even more holding someone accountable. It was just really like targeting and saying a lot of things that I felt like were not nice. I didn't want to fuel that more.

In general and immediately after in my press conference, I didn't know what was exactly said. I was going based off what someone was saying in the press conference. I didn't want to say anything unless I saw exactly what was said, too.

In general, I'm someone I preach love, I preach light. I feel like I just practice what I preach. If someone were to say something, I feel like most of the time I'm always going to try my best to take the high road. I can't promise in the future I won't, but I try to just because that's what I would want someone to look up to. If I'm thinking about my brothers watching me, that's what I would want them to do.

Yeah, for me, there's obviously temptation. I wouldn't be lying, but I don't know, I just want us to be kumbaya, live happily, hakuna matata, and be happy here, so yeah (smiling).

Q. You played obviously a brilliant semifinal on Saturday, and then the men's final went five and a half hours. Have you ever thought about what it would be like to play a best-of-five final? Is that something you'd be interested in moving towards if it was for the final, semis, quarter?

COCO GAUFF: Yeah, I've thought about best-of-five. I mean, I think it would favor me a little bit just from a physicality standpoint.

But, yeah, I mean, I don't mind tennis the way it is, too. I think both are interesting, like, point takes and everything. I really don't have any opinion. Obviously I think it's because it's been this way for so long, I wouldn't mind just keeping it like that.

But five and a half hours is insane. The fact I was halfway home on a flight to the U.S. and they were still playing, which is insane. I'm pretty sure by the time the trophy ceremony was done, I was probably, like, two hours away from landing in New York coming from Paris. That just shows how long that match was.

Yeah, it would be interesting if that were a thing. I think it would favor me just from a physicality standpoint. But I do think it would kind of be a big change for the tour. I think it would be fine just keeping it like how it is.

Q. It's been 10 years since a woman has pulled off the Channel Slam, since Serena. What would that mean for you? What do you think is the biggest challenge pulling that off, especially like Wimbledon the last seven years, there have been seven different champions?

COCO GAUFF: Oh, that would be really hard. I understand why it hasn't been done that often. Except I guess Carlos, he makes it look pretty easy. Novak, too. I didn't realize it was 10 years since Serena.

It is a quick turnaround. I think that's the reason why this kind of double is so hard, it's a quick turnaround. You go from winning such a high tournament and kind of having to be back to work not even a few days later.

I would love to do that. Also, I'm not going to put that much pressure on myself because I've been telling my team and people around me, this is all new territory for me. I have never played -- even with debating on playing Berlin and stuff. I was, like, I'm just going to learn as I go. Maybe if I were to win again, I probably wouldn't do that decision again.

This is very much new territory. I'm trying to take it as I go. If I were to end up there, it would be great. If not, I'll try to come up with a better way to prepare for this tournament next year.

Q. Using Carlos as an example, a few days in Ibiza is the way to go.

COCO GAUFF: He did. I saw he was in a Ibiza. I went home. Next year, I was like, if I were to do that again, I was, like, maybe I should stay on this side of the world and have fun instead of going all the way back to the U.S.

Maybe I'll talk about him. I'll need to know exactly what he ate, exactly what he drank, how late he went to bed each night. Yeah, I'll have a conversation with him how those three days went (laughter).

Q. As an extension of the question about whether you'd ever be interested in five sets, looking at that incredible final weekend, you've had this great win. Then Alcaraz and Sinner happens, and that's the last match of the tournament. It's always the case that in combined tournaments, the men's final is the final chapter of a tournament. Would you ever like to see that maybe change so that you alternate and that women finish the tournament?

COCO GAUFF: Yeah, I mean, there's two things. It would be really cool if that would happen for the women to finish a tournament, but they also have to play three-out-of-five sets. I know that extra day makes a big difference for them.

I don't know if that's why that decision is made, but that's where I would feel that would make the most sense for them to play on Sunday, to get the extra day of rest because they are playing longer.

Like you said, especially maybe in 1000s and things like that, I feel like that would be a cool thing to just switch up and change it. Also, it puts women on a bigger platform I feel like being the best spoke-about match in a tournament.

With that being said, I also do like playing on a Saturday and being home on Sunday (smiling). Yeah, I never thought about it like that, but I think that would be a cool idea that could happen.

I do think it would be tough in the slams, given they are playing three-out-of-five. To take away an extra day of rest would be difficult. I had to may back-to-back quarter and semis. Imagine you're playing five sets and having to come back the next day and potentially play a another five, I think that would be pretty difficult.

I guess from a scheduling standpoint, it does makes sense for them to finish on Sunday.

Q. I saw you earlier practicing with Mirra. How do you find the dynamic that only a few years ago you were looking up to players that had won slams? Now you're a two-time Grand Slam champion. Do these players like Mirra ask you for advice or do you find you're trying to give them advice without them asking for it?

COCO GAUFF: No one's ever asked me for advice, to be honest. I had a conversation with Victoria in Boca actually after her match against Qinwen. I don't want to get into details of that, but I definitely dropped a little bit and just told her basically to keep going and keep enjoying it. She seems like she has a good head on her shoulders.

With Mirra, we haven't really spoken about anything. I also feel like we're a little bit closer in age. I guess me and Victoria are, too.

I don't know. I don't like to offer advice. I feel like if somebody wants something, they'll ask. I don't feel like I'm all the way there yet either when it comes to advice and I'm just trying to be out here and learn.

If someone asks me something, I am going to answer honestly. I don't like to give out advice, just because I knew when I was younger, it was something that was a little bit annoying to me, because you just had so many voices coming at you, you didn't know who to listen to. I don't want to add another voice.

Also, I still have so much to learn. Maybe if I say something now, I probably won't mean it in a year. I'm still learning too.