COCO DOES IT BY THE BOOK
Gauff takes coach’s advice to ‘win ugly’
COCO GAUFF has not yet got around to reading her coach Brad Gilbert’s bestselling book, Winning Ugly. But the 19-year-old American’s victory to reach the Australian Open semifinals yesterday was as good as an advertisement for that manuscript on mental warfare in tennis.
This turned into more of a psychodrama on Rod Laver Arena as neither Gauff nor her opponent Marta Kostyuk performed prettily in their three hours together. They shared an unfortunate 107 unforced errors between them, 56 of which came from Gauff — almost as many as the No 4 seed had managed in her previous four rounds combined at Melbourne Park.
Gauff brought her ‘C game’ — to borrow her own analysis — in what was supposed to be a stress-free contest against the 21-year-old Ukrainian competing in her first Grand Slam quarter-final.
The 15,000 spectators on Rod Laver Arena, with no shortage of American expats, were stunned as the favourite trailed 5-1 in the first set amid a myriad of mistakes.
But the youngest woman remaining in these Generation Zdominated quarter-finals was able to dig deep and battle back to maintain her unbeaten start to the season. She is now ten for ten this year after securing a 7-6, 6-7, 6-2 win to set up a semi-final showdown with the Australian Open’s defending champion Aryna Sabalenka.
It was Sabalenka who Gauff beat in the 2023 US Open final and the teenager said of Winning
Ugly yesterday: ‘I bought a copy but I didn’t read it. Maybe I should add it to my reading list. My mom actually got it for me when we were in talks over working with Brad. She read it. But I feel like I got the real version, so I don’t need a book.
‘When you’re down 5-1, you’re not expecting to win the set. I believe every point and every game matters, and eventually the score started to get closer.
‘I was fighting as much as possible. I knew how I needed to play. I just couldn’t execute. Eventually, I was able to find it, which is what I’m proud of.’
Australian Open onlookers have described these as the ‘Gen Z quarter-finals’. All eight of the women remaining were born after 1995, including five after 2000, and Gauff is now the youngest American woman since Mary Joe Fernandez in 1991 to reach this event’s semi-finals.
Gilbert will be proud of the mental strength shown by Gauff, if not entirely enthralled by the performance itself. The blistering heat could not be blamed for Gauff dipping below her usual standards. As someone from Delray Beach, Florida, she is used to soaring temperatures.
She will need to up her game against No2 seed Sabalenka, who beat Barbora Krejcikova 6-2, 6-3 in 71 minutes on Rod Laver Arena. The Belarusian is only the sixth woman in the Open Era to reach six straight Grand Slam semi-finals before turning 26, and she was not shy in saying she will be seeking vengeance over Gauff. ‘After the US Open, I really wanted that revenge,’ she admitted. ‘It’s always great battles against Coco, great fights. I’m happy to play her, and I’m super excited.’ Meanwhile, Novak Djokovic showcased his superior athleticism in outlasting Taylor Fritz, though the ten-time Australian Open champion’s latest marathon sparked further scheduling chaos yesterday. Despite telling organisers that he prefers playing in the evening, the 36-year-old was handed a sticky daytime start as temperatures topped 31 degrees in Melbourne. With Gauff taking more than three hours to oust Kostyuk in the preceding match, Djokovic’s battle with Fritz then lasted so long that it delayed the 7pm start of the night session on Rod Laver Arena.
It was 8.28pm by the time Djokovic finally confirmed his 7-6, 4-6, 6-2, 6-3 victory over American 12th seed Fritz to reach his 48th Grand Slam semi-final — while 15,000 fans with tickets for the night session were stranded outside.
‘It’s too late to start a two-night match session,’ said Eurosport pundit John McEnroe.
‘You feel you’re trapped in this heat, inside and outside, particularly today,’ said Djokovic, who faces Jannik Sinner — a straight-sets victory over Andrey Rublev — in the semi-finals next.
‘It was not enjoyable at all. I was suffering. Scheduling has become a hot topic.
‘Coco Gauff played a long match. I played a very long match. Then, you have the night session starting two hours after they were scheduled. It’s not ideal.’