Coco Gauff’s Wimbledon journey came to a tearful end on Tuesday evening as she suffered defeat at the hands of World No 42 Dayana Yastremska.
Having just triumphed at the French Open, Gauff arrived in London hoping to maintain her winning streak but found herself outplayed, going down 7-6, 6-1 against the Ukrainian.
A scheduling shift saw her match moved from Centre Court to Court One.
Despite the protracted matches on Centre Court resulting in her game being rescheduled, Gauff, who burst onto the scene at Wimbledon as a teenager, didn’t attribute her defeat to the change in plans.
Originally set to follow Novak Djokovic on court, Gauff, visibly emotional, affirmed that the altered schedule had no bearing on her performance.
The world No 2 shared: “Obviously, I was preparing to play a little bit later.
“I found out at about 6:35pm that we would not be on before 7:30pm.
“At that point I hadn’t really eaten yet. I was trying to hold off because I thought maybe we were going on after Novak [Djokovic on Centre Court],” reports the Mirror.
She continued: “I don’t think it really affected the match today, to be honest.
“I’ve played with quick turnarounds and things like that.
“Yeah, I figured we would be moved at some point, but we don’t know.
“But I definitely don’t think the court change affected the way the match went.”
Gauff acknowledged her struggles at Wimbledon, particularly noting a high number of double faults and conceded that she plans to alter her strategy in future tournaments. “I just feel like the surface, I maybe could have used more matches,” she added.
She deliberated on the challenge of scheduling: “If you go deep in Roland Garros, you’re debating: ‘do I rush and play that week, or do I take time and play the week before?’
“It’s a tricky thing. It’s like finding the puzzle.
“I don’t like to play the week before. It’s a quick turnaround, so I think just trying to learn whether it’s better to train more and maybe play Bad Homburg or Eastbourne.
“If that time comes around again I’ll approach it differently.”
Expressing optimism about her future on grass courts, Gauff said: “I have faith that if I can make these adjustments, I can do well here. I really do want to do well here.
“I’m not someone who wants to write myself off grass this early in my career, but I definitely need to make changes if I want to be successful here.”
The women’s competition has been rife with upsets, with several top-10 players exiting before the second round. Notably, on Tuesday, Gauff’s compatriot and third seed Jessica Pegula was ousted, as was China’s Zheng Qinwen, marking another significant departure from the tournament.
