Gauff: "I am disappointed, but not completely defeated"

After being eliminated in the quarterfinals, the American reflected on her tournament and the loss to Badosa: "She played the key points better, that's all".

Fernando Murciego | 21 Jan 2025 | 05.01
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Coco Gauff eliminated in the Australian Open 2025. Source: Getty
Coco Gauff eliminated in the Australian Open 2025. Source: Getty

After shining brightly up to the quarterfinals, surely Coco Gauff did not expect to pack her bags this Tuesday at the 2025 Australian Open. It wasn't the American's day, overshadowed by a Paula Badosa who played an immaculate match always in control of the scoreboard. The Nº3 player in the world faces the first big disappointment of the season, closing in this way her first calendar tour. A bitter pill was also going through the press conference, although her maturity allowed her to reflect and accept the defeat with complete sportsmanship. Let's highlight her statements.

Assessment of the match

"Paula played great, maybe some moments in the first set could have gone my way, perhaps the outcome could have been different if I had won the first set. Right now, I think there is a lot of work to be done, I'm disappointed, but I'm not completely crushed. I think I hit some balls too far from the line, playing too far back. I'm just looking forward to the next opportunity."

An area to improve

"Definitely, there were many unforced errors on my part, but I had to be more aggressive. Being in that situation is when I do what I like the most, that's how I've won most of my matches in recent months, playing very aggressively. It's simply about being comfortable in that context, that's why I'm in the process of making a change in my game. I haven't always played that aggressively, so sometimes I need to wait from the beginning. I have faith that little by little I can bring out that instinct."

Her time in Australia

"It's hard to assess now, I just finished the match a moment ago, I'm still disappointed. I think that the way I played, even though I couldn't deliver my best version, I did give it my all on the court, this is something I am proud of. I fought until the end, this is something that will make many matches end up falling on my side in the future, although not all. These kinds of defeats two years ago made me feel much more crushed, it felt like the end of the world with so much sadness, now all I think about is that I could have done something more at certain moments. I did the best I could with what I had, that's all."

Rivalry with Badosa

"Our last match in China was very similar to this one, I was also a set down, a couple of points decided everything. I don't feel she did anything different, maybe she played better on the key points, in the end when you play with someone so many times, you know they won't do anything different. Paula played better some points, although I had my chances in the first set. Who knows? If I had won that game, everything would be different. In tennis, it's always about who performs better at critical moments and today she was better."

Recent Grand Slam defeats

"At the US Open, I had many unsolvable problems, so that defeat was more frustrating. Today I feel that I play with more resources, I know what I need to work on, at the US Open, I still needed a lot of work on my serve. I'm not saying my serve is where I want it to be, but I worked hard for it. There has been improvement, but I want to keep working to give myself more leeway. I feel like I'm on the right path, I'm not devastated, I don't feel like I have regressed or that I'm stuck. Despite today's defeat, I think I'm on an upward trajectory. Of course, it feels bad to lose when you've been playing great tennis, but this is what it is. It's time to get back to work."

Focusing on the positives

"It's not a bad result, but the better you do, the more you take these rounds for granted. I felt ready from the beginning of the tournament, in each match, I found solutions, even against Belinda (Bencic). I wasn't playing the best I could, but I was able to turn it around. Today, I was close to doing it again, so there are some things I'm proud of."

This news is an automatic translation. You can read the original news, Gauff: “Estoy decepcionada, pero no totalmente hundida”