American tennis player Coco Gauff, 21, is looking to transform her recent runner-up disappointments in Madrid and Rome clay tournaments into motivation for the upcoming French Open in Paris, where she previously reached the finals in 2022 and won the doubles title last year.
Gauff enters the French Open following consecutive finals losses to world number one Aryna Sabalenka and Italy's Jasmine Paolini in Roland Garros warm-up tournaments.
Go Beyond The Boundary with our YouTube channel. SUBSCRIBE NOW! The 2018 French Open junior champion will face 93rd-ranked Australian Olivia Gadecki in her opening match on the red clay surface.
Reflecting on her 2022 French Open final loss to Iga Swiatek, Gauff said: "I think immediately after it was a tough feeling for me. I just felt like maybe I could never overcome that. Then I just turned it into motivation. I knew that, I don't know, just had a deep-down gut (feeling) that I was going to be in a final position again. I was like, I'm not going to go out like that. If I go out, I'm going to leave with my head held high. So I was able to approach that US Open final differently. But I definitely think I needed that finals loss to reach this point, for sure."
Gauff went on to win the US Open title a year after her French Open final appearance.
Speaking about her comfort level on clay courts, Gauff said: "Honestly, I feel like when I was young, I just played on it. I feel like at that time I didn't gauge surfaces or anything. I felt like I should just be good at everything. I definitely think it's something that I'm comfortable on. I mainly credit it to me probably sliding a lot on a hard court so when I go on clay it just feels a lot easier."
Her recent clay court performances have boosted her confidence heading into Roland Garros.
Regarding her clay season results, Gauff stated: "It definitely gives me a lot of confidence, but I think I'm just putting those results in the past and focusing on the next two weeks here."
Last year, Gauff claimed the Roland Garros doubles title partnering with Katerina Siniakova, further cementing her credentials on the clay surface.
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