Along with on-court skills, mental fortitude also plays a crucial role in any tennis match. According to sports journalist Christopher Clarey, there seems to be an intriguing pair in the tennis world that perfectly represents the above perspective. They are none other than Iga Swiatek and Coco Gauff. Dissecting Gauff’s on-court demeanor against World No. 1, Clarey gave an intriguing insight into their unique dynamic.

The Tennis Channel Inside-In podcast’s latest episode featured Journalist Christopher Clarey along with host Mitch Michals. Together, they not only discussed the Italian Open matches but also shared their opinions on the upcoming tournament at Roland Garros. However, when Michals brought up the subject of Coco Gauff’s Italian Open run this season, Clarey pointed out the heated arguments that unfolded during her match against Iga Swiatek.

“She was talking to the chair Umpire at length about Iga taking a swig of water. In a changeover to brush of the clay as you see, she stumbled a little bit. At one point, I think Coco’s just trying to get either Iga out of her head or how far she goes into her head that she would focus on something like that,” Clarey said. As he pointed out, the incident took place during the second set of the match.

Gauff went up to the Chair umpire and complained to him of being partial to Swiatek. This is because of Swiatek’s frequent water breaks during the game. As the umpire allowed her to take those breaks, Gauff’s annoyance grew. Although she expressed her disappointment at the matter, her arguments with the chair umpire led to no results. 

Soon, the match ended with Gauff losing for the 10th time against Iga Swiatek with a score of 6-4, 6-3. After the match, Coco Gauff addressed her feelings and said, “I would say from just this match, I feel more negative emotions right now. Against probably anybody else today, I would have won the match.”

Reflecting on the match, Clarey further added, “I think Iga has really a big mental edge on her. And that’s the one player that when Coco sees her, she just doesn’t feel confident deep down.” However, according to Coco Gauff, there are some areas where she can improve to become more aggressive against Swiatek.

Coco Gauff reflects on how her “ first-serve” would have helped her win in Rome

After an hour and 47 minutes of battle, Coco Gauff, who has previously won only once against the Pole, faced another loss against her. But Gauff tries to focus on her improvement rather than succumb to sorrow. After the match, she provided an analysis of what could have helped her win the match.

“I wish my first-serve percentage was higher. I was winning a lot of first-serve points. And I knew that would be key to winning today, I didn’t get in as much as I would like to.” The 20-year-old further added, “Like looking at the whole tournament from where I started to now, I definitely feel like it’s a major improvement.”  

As the battle of mind as well as prowess on-court continues, hopefully, we will soon see Coco Gauff conquering both of them gracefully.