US OPEN

August 28, 2026

Coco Gauff

Press Conference

THE MODERATOR: Coco, welcome. Before we start, we have a little presentation for you.

(Presentation of award to Coco Gauff.)

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. Your mom posted on Instagram yesterday about the requests that you get for tickets, and she was very polite and firm, but can you expand on that a little bit. Do you see the most demand around the US Open? Why might that be? Obviously you've had a lot of success on tour, winning matches all over the world. What about this week compares to the rest of your time on tour in terms of the demand you get for tickets?

COCO GAUFF: Yeah, for starters, I did not know she was posting that. I saw the Cincinnati picture before I went to practice and I saw a long caption. I'm like, Oh, this is probably something sweet, I'll read it after practice, because I was on the way on court. Then I saw somebody on Threads say, Oh, Mama Gauff is strict. I was like, what's going on?

I looked, and then I see this post, and I'm, like, Oh, my goodness. But honestly, it was needed, and it was directed, yeah, towards a few family and friends.

No, to be honest, yeah, people come out of the woodwork. You haven't spoken to someone for years. They don't say congrats or happy birthday or nothing, then they're like, Oh, I'm in New York, can I have 8 tickets to your match in your box, please.

They give us tickets here, but they're selling an event so it's not like I can give all these people tickets. No, last year they were really stressed out between my mom and my dad trying to accommodate everyone.

If we have it, we'll give it. But it was just I think stressful for them. A lot of people personally don't have my number, so they don't reach out to me. They'll reach out to them or someone on my team.

Yeah, I guess, I don't know who the person who sent her a text this year where she felt that was like the final straw. But somebody must have sent her something, and she was just, like, I need to make a post.

Yeah, specifically in New York, it's just crazy. But New York and Wimbledon are the ones that I think people want to come to, and we try our best to accommodate everyone. But some of the requests, you would be surprised at how absurd they are.

Q. You're now a veteran player. How is it different in the feeling coming into the US Open this year and with the way you're playing?

COCO GAUFF: Yeah, I mean, veteran...

I guess with my experience, yeah; with my age probably not. But I think the expectations are high. At US Open can be the one you feel the most pressure at, just being an American you want to succeed and do well.

I just realize, I mean, in hindsight, yes, I probably will be playing here 10-plus years, but in the grand scheme of life it's not really that many opportunities you get to play here. I just try to enjoy each and every single time I'm out here. Obviously nothing is promised, whereas before I was just so focused on winning that the experience wasn't as enjoyable for me. Sometimes I'll win a match here and feel more relief than pride. I want to switch that, yeah.

Q. I was thinking back to a year ago and your run into the US Open 12 months ago and how much that was. Employing Gavin just on the eve of it, you're out there hitting serves in the rain. The whole experience, it seemed like it was a lot. If you could compare how you're feeling right now and where you are with your game compared to 12 months ago.

COCO GAUFF: Yeah, obviously I was making a big change before probably the most important tournament of my season, and there was a lot of pressure.

But I'm really glad that I made the decision. I'm glad I didn't wait another second, because the progress is there and I see it. In the moment, you don't really feel, like even earlier this year, you don't really feel it. But now it's like I can look back a year from now, like, I think someone put a graph of my Cincy serve stats for last year versus this year, and I'm like, Oh, wow, it's a big difference. Yeah, it just feels good to come into a tournament feeling confident on that shot finally.

Because I always knew I was capable. I mean, I still want to improve my serve. But I always knew I was capable of having a good one. Just because I can hit overheads well and I can get up there high on the serve speed, but it was just about making it consistent. I think once I got confident in the consistency, then I was able to pull the trigger a lot more often.

Q. Just picking up on the last question, psychologically rather than technically, can you compare sort of where you were a year ago at this time coming into this tournament versus your mindset, psychological state, and anticipation this year.

COCO GAUFF: Yeah, I mean, obviously last year I knew all the eyes were going to be on the serve. Gavin is so great at what he does, I felt a lot of pressure even own pressure that I put on myself to kind of prove that he's great at what he does. It didn't really show within the first two weeks, which is normal. But psychologically, like, I am now serving, oh, like I'm going to go for the ace, or I know I can hit the serve and the return is probably not going to come back or something like that, versus last year I literally was like I hope I make it in.

No, you can laugh it, because it's funny. But it's just such a big difference knowing -- and obviously if I want to slow it down, I can, but almost every serve I'm trying to basically hit 110, 115, 120 if I can. Sometimes maybe if I am, the percentage is low then I'll slow it down. I think that's way better than where I was last year where I was literally just like let me get it in and figure it out.

Q. Why is that? Does everything feed off that for confidence?

COCO GAUFF: Yeah, for sure. Even in Cincy, not saying I won't get broken, but it was very rare. Maybe now I'm getting broken three or two times in a set. I feel like my return stats are pretty high on tour. Now that I'm returning well and serving well, it just feels good. You just feel a lot more ease when the shot is going in. I didn't even need it to be great. I just need it to go in and now it's getting good and it's going in.

Q. Even every tennis player or most tennis players lose every week at some stage, something you have to deal with. On court, when it happens, you always seem to be pretty gracious in defeat. Is that something important to you? Because you see other people maybe aren't in the moment.

COCO GAUFF: Yeah, I think it is important for me. I'm not a fan of salty hand shakes or things like that. If there is a salty handshake, that's not because I initiated it. I always, you know, am a person who, unless -- which has never happened to me -- but unless someone did something so disrespectful, then okay, maybe there will be one. It's never really happened to me on the court or off the court.

Yeah, I think it's important. I think it's just important to show young kids to be gracious in defeat, because it's going to happen. Even if you're not in sports, you're going to experience failure at some point in your life. You just have to know how to take it with your chin held up high and give that person their props and try again next time.

Q. Going back to your answer, I'm paraphrasing, just about kind of being able to step back and take the joy out of these events, I'm curious, how did you get to that and when did you get to that? Was there some sudden epiphany or event? Or was it, I'm going to have to make this conscious thing? Or did it just grow over the last 12 months?

COCO GAUFF: I think it just grew a little bit. Specifically my experience last year was so tough for me on the court. Like, obviously I think everybody saw that. Then the Open finished, and life is normal, and, you know, I sometimes I feel like I ride and die on my results, just because how competitive and perfectionist I am. I find that every time I have done well at a tournament is when I have taken a step back and just focus on the joy of it all.

You know, sometimes in juniors you're not thinking about it, you're playing in front of 10 people, if that, and just the pressure doesn't feel there but here you're performing in front of thousands and millions are watching. So it feels like so much more.

So I just had to remind myself of the basics, and when I do that, the joy is there and the pressure -- pressure will always be there, but it's not as much.

Q. Going back to the question about your mom's post, I'm curious, for you, you're someone close with family and community, how do you balance that with those people versus having to have some guardrails and boundaries that you can draw on? How has that evolved over the last seven years since you've gotten to be such a bigger star?

COCO GAUFF: Yeah, honestly it is tough, because you've got to navigate who is there to genuinely support and you who is there for the ride. I feel like I have been blessed with good discernment to kind of know who is there for the right reasons.

You know, I'm not one of those people, you know, if you want to come, come. But I'm just, like, if I haven't heard from you all year and you hit me up, our last text is you hit me up for tickets, I don't know if you're there for -- because I do some things throughout the year. You can wish me happy birthday or something, so I think it's just trying to navigate those things.

I have big family from both sides, but, you know, like any family, there are just some people you don't really talk to, so those are the ones that seem to ask the most. I feel like the people around me, the close ones, they know when to come in and support and when to take a step back.

Yeah, I think over the course of the seven years, I feel like my mom hit a tipping point, because it's been going on since 15, and they really are my safeguards and I am lucky they try to make sure no one is hitting up my phone, so I don't really get many requests.

Yeah, only people who really have my number are close friends and obviously they're welcome any time. But yeah, I have seen some of the requests my parents have gotten, and it's people they probably went to elementary cool and they'll literally ask for five, six tickets.

I would never ask someone for more than two. But yeah, it's okay. You know, some people just don't know any better, and I guess my mom was, she wanted to post that because she is going to stop responding. At least they know why.

Q. You're serving as an executive producer for two docu shorts about Zina Garrison and tennis and fashion. What did you make of the opportunity to tell stories more broadly and what you make of documentaries as an inspiration?

COCO GAUFF: Yeah, thank you for asking that. Yeah, it's really cool to be able to do that and pick the stories I want to tell and I feel like they are both very close to me. Obviously the tennis in fashion one, I feel like I'm one of the players who kind of tried to bridge that gap between or now it's not even a gap anymore, but continue to merge the relationship between fashion and tennis, and just wanted to expand on the history of it, honor, like, the icons who have done that or icons still doing it.

Obviously Zina Garrison, being a Black player, I feel like we don't really talk about her a lot and the amount of things she's accomplished in this sport I do think is crazy. We don't really talk about her, and I would love to see maybe something here at the site to honor the things she's done for this sport. I'm glad Althea got a statue here and we obviously have Arthur Ashe, but I would love to see something to honor her because she's definitely not just an iconic player for Black tennis but tennis in general and especially American tennis.