“I have these strong reactions because I am so competitive and I do want to win so [my team] sees it as a good thing,” said the 18-year-old. “I tend to look at the negative side of things more so, and then usually when I re-watch the match I realize it wasn’t as bad as it felt in the moment! It’s something I do need to get better at, but I’ve come a long way.”
It’s a startling admission from one of the field’s most mentally tough athletes, one whom her elder rivals have learned never to count out—especially Garcia, who has long struggled with nerves—but Gauff nonetheless describes her emotional improvements with pride.
“I usually would not talk about a match, sometimes never and sometimes not until a week later,” she recalls. “I feel like, especially early on when I first came on tour, a lot of my losses was because of my emotions on the court, and so there was really much not to talk about strategy-wise because you’re not emotionally there, you’re not making the best decisions strategically.
“Today I can say I didn’t lose because of my emotions, so I think it makes talking about the matches easier, because now we’re actually playing into something that I can actually learn from and actually control whereas emotions, yeah, you can control them, but it only comes through learning and experience, which is not going to just happen overnight.”
Ironically, Gauff won’t have much more than a good night’s sleep to recover from Tuesday’s defeat as she’ll be back on court for another doubles match with Pegula, who plays a double-header schedule through round-robin action.
Her next singles opponent, Daria Kasatina, will more time to process her own stumble against world No. 1 Iga Swiatek, but the affable No. 8 may not need it.