Coco Gauff took a cue from Daniil Medvedev’s angle to rationalize her recent setbacks at the Madrid Open and Italian Open finals.
Looking back at the disappointments, Gauff explained that she sympathized with something Medvedev once said after his tough 6-3, 6-3, 4-6, 4-6, 3-6 defeat to Jannik Sinner in the 2024 Australian Open final.
Coco Gauff Advanced to Italian Open Finals for the First Time
Gauff was coming into the 2024 Italian Open on a roll after a runner-up appearance in Madrid. She lost in straight sets to top seed Aryna Sabalenka there. Gauff was seeded fourth, with this being her sixth main-draw event in Rome.
Following a first-round bye, she recorded victories over Canadian qualifier Victoria Mboko, 32nd seed Magda Linette, Emma Raducanu, seventh seed Mirra Andreeva, and eighth seed Zheng Qinwen to advance to the final. There, she was beaten 4-6, 2-6 by sixth seed and home favorite Jasmine Paolini.
After her singles final defeat, Gauff spoke about how she is dealing with her back-to-back finals defeats in Madrid and Rome.
“I’ve enjoyed it obviously, two results that I was a little bit disappointed in, but overall I have a lot of confidence going into Roland Garros and hopefully I can get the final there and actually win it. But yeah, I think I saw Daniil [Medvedev] say something ..its better to lose in finals than first rounds, so I can agree with that.”
Daniil Medvedev, however, completed his sixth Italian Open recently, where he was seeded 10th. Medvedev got a first-round bye and then proceeded to beat Cameron Norrie, and 24th seed Alexei Popyrin to advance to the Round of 16 where he lost in straight sets to eventual semifinalist and home favorite Lorenzo Musetti.
Gauff also discussed the value of being seeded at Grand Slams. It helps avoid tough opponents early on, but she noted that by the later rounds, seedings matter less because you’re facing top players anyway.
“Seeding, obviously it helps when you’re seeded higher, but at these Grand Slams it really helps for the first couple rounds, but once you’re in the quarters or maybe even fourth week or fourth round, it’s kind of pointless because you’re playing great players and if you want to win that big trophy you have to beat incredible players.”
The World No. 3 added that with the depth on tour, even unseeded players can be dangerous, so she stays focused no matter the draw.
“So yeah, I would say it helps you out so you don’t maybe play someone you don’t want to play. Yeah, I think it’s really important. I mean, I know it’s been a high-ranked first round, but I mean, the depth on the tour now, there’s a lot of people who will be unseeded that are definitely dangerous players, so I don’t really take any attention to it.”
Gauff also had a solid doubles performance with Rafa Nadal Tennis Academy’s Alexandra Eala. The American-Filipino pair advanced to the quarterfinals before losing in three sets to Italian third seeds Jasmine Paolini and Sara Errani.
Gauff Will Be Appearing in Her Sixth Roland Garros Main Draw
Coco Gauff made her French Open main-draw appearance in 2020, reaching the second round before losing to Italian qualifier Martina Trevisan.
She has made incremental improvement at Roland Garros since then, reaching the quarterfinals in 2021 and 2023, the semifinals in 2024, and being runner-up in 2022 after losing in the final to Iga Swiatek.
