Coco Gauff suffered a shock first-round exit at Wimbledon 2025, losing to Ukraine’s Dayana Yastremska 7-6(3), 6-1 on Court No. 1. The American, who had won the French Open last month, was originally scheduled to play on Centre Court but was moved to Court No. 1 due to scheduling changes.
During her post-match interview, Gauff revealed the impact of the last-minute schedule change on her pre-match preparations.
Coco Gauff Opens Up About Schedule Change During Post-Match Conference
When asked about the court change from Centre Court to No. 1 Court, Gauff explained how the schedule shift affected her day. “Not necessarily the court change, but obviously I was preparing to play a little bit later. So, I found out around like 6:35 that we would be not [playing] before 7:30,” Gauff said during her post-match press conference.
The timing change had a direct impact on her eating schedule. “And at that point I hadn’t really eaten yet cuz I was trying to hold off cuz I thought we were maybe going after Novak,” she revealed.
Despite this disruption, Gauff maintained that the schedule change didn’t affect her performance. “But I don’t think it really affected the match today, to be honest. I’ve played with quick turnarounds and things like that, but yeah, I figured we would be moved at some point, but we don’t know, but I definitely don’t think the court change affected the way the match went,” she said.
The schedule change occurred because previous matches on Centre Court ran longer than expected, forcing Wimbledon organizers to relocate Gauff’s match.
Alexander Zverev and Arthur Rinderknech couldn’t finish their match due to Wimbledon’s curfew, continuing on Tuesday afternoon, which pushed back Novak Djokovic’s match until 7:00 p.m., leaving no time for Gauff’s originally scheduled third match of the day.
Dayana Yastremska Hands Gauff a Shocking Upset at Wimbledon
Dayana Yastremska delivered the performance of her career to defeat the second seed in straight sets. The World No. 42 was in complete control throughout the match, hitting 16 winners compared to Gauff’s six.
Gauff struggled significantly with her serve, committing nine double faults and making 29 unforced errors during the 1 hour 19 minute encounter.
The first set was closely contested, with both players holding serve until the tiebreak. Yastremska dominated the tiebreak 7-3, capitalizing on her opponent’s serving struggles. The second set saw complete domination from the Ukrainian as she broke Gauff’s serve early and won 6-1.
During the match, Yastremska found Gauff’s earring on the grass court, mirroring the famous “tennis bracelet” incident from 1978, involving Chris Evert.
lol Yestremaska found Coco’s earring in the grass. pic.twitter.com/8agHpxrK5h
— Del🇪🇺 (@Stroppa_Del) July 1, 2025
This victory marked Yastremska’s second career win over a top-2 player, her first since defeating then-No. 2 Karolina Pliskova at the 2019 Wuhan Open.
For Gauff, meanwhile, it was a historic disappointment as she became just the third woman in the Open Era to lose in the first round at Wimbledon right after winning the French Open.
