Coco Gauff Admits ‘Personal Things Off Court’ Affecting Her Performance in Rome

Coco Gauff is in the fourth round of the Italian Open. After securing an easy win over her opening-round opponent, Tereza Valentova, the American ace came from a set down to defeat Solana Sierra 5-7, 6-0, 6-4.

Gauff, who is chasing her first title of the season, finished as the runner-up in Rome last year, losing to Jasmine Paolini. Prior to arriving in the Italian capital, the 22-year-old failed to defend her title at the Madrid Open, where Linda Noskova eliminated her in three sets in the fourth round.

After her latest win, Gauff made an honest confession during the press conference that personal things have been affecting her while competing.

It was a tough day for me. One of those days, I just didn’t feel motivated to go on the court. Then when you’re on the court, you’re motivated. You get too frustrated.

Gauff likes to be transparent in her press conferences, but she did not want to discuss her personal issue at the time. She wants to be vulnerable and talk about her on-court performance, but her opening up about her private stuff will only depend on the topic. Gauff wants the fans to understand that athletes are not “always 100 percent perfect“.

No, mental. Just personal things off court that I’m just trying to get through, but then you also remember how much fun you have. I think my regret today was not enjoying the battle, for sure. I’ve been going through it for a few months. I mean, good days and bad days, yeah.

Coco Gauff added

Gauff will next be locking horns with countrywoman Iva Jovic, who defeated Taylor Townsend in straight sets in the previous round. The two-time Grand Slam singles champion has so far lifted two clay-court titles, the last of which she clinched at the 2025 Roland Garros by defeating World No.1 Aryna Sabalenka.

Eden Silva questions Coco Gauff’s mentality

Throughout her third-round match, Coco Gauff showed signs of frustration, and she even hit her racket on her head to shake off the frustration. Commentator Eden Silva questioned Gauff’s mentality and body language.

Even though Gauff is starting to play better, she still looks quite unhappy with herself, regardless of winning the second set 6-0 and winning four games in a row in this final set. In no means is she going to be happy with her performance, or maybe her body language in that match. Today, it looked like she didn’t want to lose more than she wanted to win; that was sort of what she was behaving like on court, and you could see it was so visual.

Eden Silva commented during the decider (H/T: Tennis365)

Gauff has played one final so far this year. She reached the title clash of the Miami Open for the first time but failed to go past Aryna Sabalenka. Gauff has yet to win a title since lifting her third WTA 1000 singles title in last year’s Wuhan Open.

She will be locking horns with Iva Jovic for the first time in her career. Last month, after making her Madrid Open debut with a straight-set win over Magda Linette, Jovic, in an interview, talked about her bond with fellow American players and jokingly called Gauff a veteran.

The 18-year-old made her Italian Open debut by defeating countrywoman McCartney Kessler. Jovic burst onto the scene in last year’s Guadalajara Open, where she defeated Emiliana Arango in the final.

She also reached the title clash at this year’s Hobart International but lost to Elisabetta Cocciaretto. Then, at the Australian Open, the teen sensation made the quarterfinals and lost to eventual runner-up Aryna Sabalenka.

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