Coco Gauff might be only 21 years old, but she’s thinking ahead when it comes to her tennis career. She wants to take good care of her body.
Gauff is already a Grand Slam champion. She won the 2023 US Open, doing so as a teenager. Since then, the American has added multiple trophies to her collection, such as the one from the 2024 WTA Finals.
Although she has won her last seven trophies on the hard courts, and eight of her nine career came on this surface as well, Gauff is actually one of the best clay-court players on the WTA Tour.
Her great movement helps her to excel on the clay courts, which she used at Roland Garros in 2018 when she won the juniors trophy. Four years later, in 2022, she stood in the women’s final against Iga Swiatek.
Gauff lost that final, and that’s why she was also asked by rolangarros.com whether beating Swiatek on clay is the ultimate key to winning the French Open.
“I think for me, well, because my head-to-head with her was more so just about beating her, period. But yeah, I haven’t really gotten to think about that. I do think I am a good player on clay. And I know that if I want to win that tournament, I have to probably beat her, most likely.”
“I think it’s more so just training to be the best version of myself. And I think that that’s the way I have been training. And with my results against her in the past, it has not turned out my way. She’s an unbelievable talent, on any surface, but especially on clay.”
“So that would be a goal to win this tournament just because I did make the final. So I feel like I have a lot of unfinished business there. And yeah, she’s definitely the number one person to beat when it comes to playing at Roland-Garros.”
But Gauff also wants to approach working towards that goal mindfully. Having watched the sport for many years, she has seen many retirements, and she doesn’t want to leave the sport because her body would force her to.
For example, Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer were no longer capable of competing because of their bodies. That’s something Gauff would want to avoid.
“I guess the most important thing is just to not be physically burnt out, just because at the end of the day, when it’s time to retire, I want to make sure it’s on my terms and not because of an injury or anything like that. So I think it’s just more so protecting my love for the sport and hopefully that it treats me with that love, too.”
For now, the 21-year-old American doesn’t need to think about her retirement. She certainly has at least one more decade in the sport.
