Coco Gauff confessed that she barely watched men's tennis at the beginning of her career, with just four players making the cut. The world No. 3 spoke after she demolished Arantxa Rus 6-0 6-0 at the Madrid Open to earn her first double-bagel victory.
Gauff got her Madrid campaign off to a storming start as she left Rus red-faced, coming through the match in just 51 minutes. Afterwards, the 20-year-old addressed something that has been a talking point this week.
Aryna Sabalenka raised eyebrows when she said she didn't watch women's tennis and preferred to watch the male players. But it's a completely different story for Gauff, who only watched the WTA Tour for a long time, limiting her ATP viewing to Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic and Juan Martin Del Potro.
"I watch women's tennis like all the time. I will say, when I was younger it was the only tennis I watched," the US Open champion said. "I honestly only knew Roger, Rafa and Novak at that time, and I didn't even watch them play.
"So then when I got more into the sport and I started playing junior tournaments and being at the Slams with the guys then I was like, maybe I'll watch them. And still, I would only watch Roger, Rafa and Novak, actually I did watch Del Potro a little bit."
Now, Gauff enjoys watching as much tennis as possible - men or women. And the world No. 3 is also a big fan of other women's sports. She continued: "But just being in the sport I watched my quote-unquote competition and my idols.
"Now as a player on tour, I just watch tennis a lot more in general than I did probably when I first got on the tour. I just enjoy the game whether it's men or women playing. But I definitely enjoy watching women's sports in general, not just tennis."
The American also addressed her red-hot start in Madrid, as she joked that she could join Iga Swiatek in opening a bakery after delivering two bagel sets to her opponent. "I'm trying to get a bakery. It is something that I do think about when it happens," Gauff laughed.
"The two things that I do think about when I win a set 6-0 is the bakery and then the 6-0 curse. I seriously think about it every time. And not that I'm paranoid about it but it's just something that social media and other players put in your head.
"The 6-0 curse is if you win a set 6-0 then you'll lose the next set, something I think Taylor Fritz said. And so every time I win a set 6-0 I'm like, I need to win the next two or three games at least to give myself some breathing room."
2024-04-25T19:33:26Z dg43tfdfdgfd