Coco Gauff reveals how she deals with defeats as Miami Open dream dies
Coco Gauff’s dream of winning her local tournament at the Miami Open are over for another year after Caroline Garcia beat the US Open champion 6-3 1-6 6-2.
Gauff struggled to find her best form on stadium court in Miami, with Garcia taking full advantage to end her run of seven losing matches against top ten opponents.
This was Garcia’s first win against one of the top ten since she beat Aryna Sabalenka in the final of the WTA Finals in 2022, with Gauff accepting she was not at her best in blustery conditions.
“She played aggressive, which I knew coming in,” said Gauff.
“I think it was really important for me to just change the height of the ball, and I did that well for the majority of the second set.
“Then starting off the third with an early break I think just completely changed the momentum.
“This is a tough loss. I do think one positive is the serve. You know, I got broken a lot today. I don’t think it was because of my serving.
“I went from hitting 17 double faults in Indian Wells to I think only, like, two or three today. So I think that’s something that can continue to improve, but it did in a short amount of time.”
Gauff went on to reveal how she deals with defeats, as she admitted it take her some time to get over a big disappointment.
“I’m the type of person every loss kind of weighs on me heavy, especially one like today where I felt like I could have done better and I felt like I had the match in control, especially after the second,” said Gauff.
“Honestly, if anything, it kind of helps being home so I can just drive and be home and be in my own bed!”
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Garcia is in impressive form in Miami as she backed up her win against former Grand Slam champion Naomi Osaka with victory against reigning Grand Slam queen Gauff.
“Obviously I was super happy and very proud of the match of yesterday,” said Garcia.
“Tennis was good, but mainly about managing the emotion and the mindset out there as things we want to work more on. That was great.
“After that, you move on and you have some time before coming on-site and just try to balance it
“And playing the top player, it’s what I was looking for in the last couple of weeks. It’s where you can learn the most.
“So I was super excited to play Coco on the stadium here. I know it was going to be a great opportunity to play my game and see what I can do. Yeah, I arrived quite relaxed, which is great.”
Garcia won the match after receiving lengthy treatment on her shoulder, as she admitted it is an ongoing problem.
“I have some history with some pain lately with my shoulder, and it’s hard to get rid of it,” she added.
“It was going way better the last couple of months. For some reason it came back, so we’ll try to do as good as we can and to recover and be ready.”
Garcia will take on a resurgent Danielle Collins in the quarter-finals.
