OMNIUM BANQUE NATIONALE

July 27, 2025

Coco Gauff

Press Conference

THE MODERATOR: Welcome back to Montreal. Just talk us through how you're feeling on the court and what you've been up to the last few weeks as well.

COCO GAUFF: Yeah, really happy to be back in Montreal. After Wimbledon I just was able to go home, relax a little bit, and then have a good training block to hopefully have some good results here and for the rest of the hard court season.

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. Talking about that reset maybe after Wimbledon, just what's the challenge there, having all that time? Also, just making that transition from grass to hard court. Coming to Montreal, it's the same every year a little bit, so how does that evolve with time? What do you experience? What do you take about that transition?

COCO GAUFF: Yeah, it was nice to actually have some time in between. That's why I didn't play D.C., because I wanted to just have a real training block, which I hadn't had in a while just because of how our schedule is.

Being back in Montreal is great, and it's definitely refreshing. I like that they change it every other year just because it feels different each time.

Yeah, I'm happy to be back here. I like this tournament a lot and would love to do great here one of these years.

Q. Just maybe a quick reaction on Genie Bouchard playing her last tournament here. You were that young player who had a lot of success young. She was the same kind of player at a young age. What's your take on seeing Genie retiring?

COCO GAUFF: Yeah, I didn't know that that was happening until I think a couple of days ago, but obviously, she had a great career early on and had a great, great couple of results in some slams.

Yeah, it's definitely not easy, but I know she's also playing on pickleball, too. You know, she spread it across all ways. I think she'll be fine. I don't know her that well personally, but I wish her all the best in the next chapter for her.

Q. Last May in Rome you played against our prodigy, Victoria Mboko. What can you tell us about her game, and what do you expect from her?

COCO GAUFF: Yeah, she's a super great player and very nice person. I've talked to her a little bit since then. I was thinking -- I was, like, oh, I should have asked her to play doubles here, but I wasn't thinking in the top of my head. So hopefully one of these days I'll get to play with her, but I'm playing with another great young person, Alex Eala, if we get in.

Yeah, Victoria is great. I think she has a great serve, great forehand and backhand and can move really well on the court. When I played her in Rome, I approached that match like I was playing -- she's going to be obviously a top player, but like she was already a top-ranked player.

Yeah, I'm sure we're going to have many more battles in the future. Yeah, I think she's going to have a lot of success on tour.

Q. Speaking of doubles, we saw your reaction a little bit on socials with Taylor becoming the top doubles player. I think you played together I think in a tournament last year.

COCO GAUFF: Yes.

Q. I don't know how much your role was a little bit in getting her to that ranking, but what does it mean obviously for her obviously, but also for American tennis to have her be No. 1 in doubles?

COCO GAUFF: Yeah, it's super cool. I've known Taylor for a long, long time, and I always root for her. I was really happy to see. I've always considered her one of the best doubles players, probably right there with Siniakova, like the best on tour. So it's great to see that ranking kind of match where I think a lot of players see her as. She deserves it all.

I've played with her, and I don't think I helped that much because I think we lost in the quarters, and I didn't play that well with her. But, yeah, I think she's going to hopefully stay there for a long time. Her and Katerina are a great team together. Yeah, I'm really proud of her.

Q. A bit of a big-picture question. Five of the top 11 players I think are from the U.S. I would just be curious to hear what do you think are the main factors behind that surge in the recent years?

COCO GAUFF: Yeah, I guess if you go long-term effect, for sure the Williams sisters and making tennis, I feel like, more of a popular sport for people to play in the U.S.

Obviously we have great icons, like Chrissie Evert and Lindsay Davenport, but I didn't grow up watching them. I don't know if a lot of the players in the top 10 grew up watching them just because of the age difference. Nothing against them, but I would say them.

Tennis is a very popular sport amongst women, so a lot of our best athletes will probably choose to play tennis or track or something like that. Whereas in the men in the U.S. it's for sure basketball and football, so a lot of the better athletes will choose that sport.

But, yeah, I think it's that and also just us seeing each other do well. I think you see one person do well, and you've probably beat them in a practice set once in a time ago. Okay, they made a Grand Slam final. Then I can too. I think we have that camaraderie amongst us.

Also, just behind the scenes we're all friendly with each other. We all root for each other. We practice with each other a lot. Yeah, I think we just help elevate each other. So it's great to see American tennis doing well on both sides, but especially on the women's side.

Q. You mentioned hoping for a breakthrough maybe here. Jessica Pegula was here earlier, and she mentioned that the surface is maybe a little bit quicker and fits her style. Can you comment on the surface here? Do you think it fits your style, or is that a factor in the past results here?

COCO GAUFF: Yeah. I mean, I wouldn't say it fits me the best, because just if you go off history, I haven't done that great here. I think I made quarterfinals, at best, probably. I would love to do better.

I think the practice courts feel a lot quicker than the stadium, and the stadium definitely feels a bit slower. The balls feel a little bit different this year, too. For some reason, the regular duty feel a little heavier than normal.

Yeah, we'll go out there and we'll see if it suits my game or not, but if we go just based off history, I haven't done that great here. You know, I just treat this tournament as if I do well, great. If not, I hope I can use what I learned and take it into Cincinnati and US Open.

I definitely think that this is a crucial tournament for me to have a good hard court swing, just to play it, regardless of result because I always seem to learn a lot here.

Q. There is more and more Canadian players on tour, men and women. Is it something that U.S. players notice?

COCO GAUFF: I mean, yes and no. I think I haven't really paid attention to just any country, to be honest, but for sure when it comes on the women's side, you see a lot of the younger girls in the draw, like Vicky and I believe her name is Maria, who played -- she's not playing now, but earlier.

You do take notice on that. I always notice younger players coming on tour, so I take notice of that. Yeah, and obviously Leylah, who is young, but she feels like she's been around forever, kind of like me.

But, yeah, I think it's great. Canadians are nice people. Obviously we're kind of close with them just off country-wise. I think it's great to see them doing well. I always love coming here.

Yeah, then on the men there's Diallo, a couple of those guys doing well, too. It's pretty cool.