“It will be like a Federer-Nadal clash” Coco Gauff shares her opinion ahead of her clash with Naomi Osaka at Mubadala Silicon Valley Classic
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Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer, Coco Gauff and Naomi Osaka
World No. 11 Coco Gauff is off to a flying start as she cruised her way comfortably into the Round of 16 after defeating Anhelina Kalinina in straight sets at the Mubadala Silicon Valley Classic tournament in San Jose. She will face the four-time Grand Slam champion Naomi Osaka in the next round. She is yet to win a singles Grand Slam title but is backed to be the upcoming flag bearer in American tennis as she has a couple of years of experience on the Tour already and is becoming a better player with every passing tournament.
Gauff reached her first singles Grand Slam finals at the 2022 French Open but lost to Iga Swiatek who had been flawless in the clay season being unbeaten in 35 matches. She also faced a third-round exit at the 2022 Wimbledon Championship to Amanda Anisimova in three sets.
Naomi Osaka returned to the court after being out of action in the All England Club due to an Achilles injury. She also faced a shocking first-round exit at Roland Garros. She defeated Qinwen Zheng of China in three sets in the Round of 32 at the WTA500 Tour in San Jose.
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“Win or lose, it will be a great match” Coco Gauff ahead of her clash
Coco Gauff, ahead of the big clash, spoke about the highly anticipated match between her and Osaka and even compared the level of competitiveness of the match with that of Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal. She said “From a competitive point of view, it would be like Federer and Nadal. I mean emotionally.“
She even talked about the amount of mutual respect both the players have for each other even though they both are very competitive in nature. She further added “When we’re on the court we’re going to fight hard against each other, but off the court, we have nothing but respect for each other, for what we do on and off outside the court. I have played against her many times and she will obviously be a tough opponent. Either way, win or lose, I think it’s going to be a great game. She’s such a champion, on and off the court, so I guess that’s the type of people you want to play, and I’m looking forward to playing those matches.“
This is the fourth time she will be facing the Japanese player and their head-to-head stands at 2-1 with Osaka having the upper hand. The last time they had met was in the second round of the Cincinnati Open in 2019 and Osaka had won that clash.
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Prateek Pradhan
(601 Articles Published)