Coco Gauff’s attitude toward defending her US Open title changed last week after reading a confidence-boosting TikTok comment.
“My new motto is, if you’re defending, it means you’ve won something before,” she said last Friday. “The comment said you’ve won literally and figuratively. Why would you stress so much about a victory lap? I thought that’s actually a good perspective. Nobody can take that away from me, so why should I stress about something I already have? I just want to add to that, whether it happens here in two weeks or here next year or in Australia or whenever, there’s no point. I think I saw that comment about three days ago and I was like, OK, I’m going to stick with it and use it because it really changed my perspective.”
On Monday, Gauff defeated 66th-seeded Frenchwoman Varvara Gracheva 6-2, 6-0 to reach the second round in Queens.
She wore a necklace with the Olympic rings, exactly one month after she bore the US flag alongside LeBron James at the opening ceremony in Paris.
US OPEN draws: Women | Men | Playing order
Last year, at age 19, Gauff became the youngest U.S. singles player to win a major since the first of Serena Williams’ 23 titles at the 1999 U.S. Open.
This year, she could become the first singles player to defend her US Open title since Williams in 2014.
There is still a long road ahead, starting with a second-round match on Wednesday against 37-year-old German Tatjana Maria (No. 99). Gauff, the No. 3 seed, could play No. 27 Elina Switolina in the third round.
Gauff has not made it past the round of 16 in her last four tournaments, including two consecutive losses before the US Open.
“The last few weeks have been a bit tough, but I know when I play here I can play great tennis and I think today I played the best tennis I’ve played in a long time,” she said on Monday.
Last year she entered the Open with 11 wins from 12 matches, including two tournament titles.
“The main focus was to be as ready as possible for here. I feel like it was fortunate that I lost so early (in a preparatory tournament) because I was actually able to practice, which I couldn’t do before,” she said on Friday. “I get my best results when I come out of a training block.”
Also on Monday, 9th seed Maria Sakkari of Greece retired from her first-round match after losing the first set 6-2 to China’s Wang Yafan.
Sakkari’s right shoulder and neck were treated during a medical timeout in the first set.
The US Open continues on Monday evening, with 24-time major champion Novak Djokovic playing his first match since winning his first Olympic gold medal.
