Coco Gauff says she is 'definitely ready to win Grand Slam titles' ahead of Ashleigh Barty clash in Adelaide
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Updated 04/01/2022 at 22:23 GMT
After breaking onto the scene in remarkable fashion in the summer of 2019, Coco Gauff is hoping that she can continue her progress by challenging for a Grand Slam title this year. Gauff faces world No 1 Ashleigh Barty at the Adelaide International this week. Stream the 2022 Australian Open live and on-demand on discovery+
Coco Gauff
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Coco Gauff believes she is “definitely ready” to challenge for Grand Slam titles and is relishing the chance to test herself against world No 1 Ashleigh Barty at the Adelaide International.
Gauff burst onto the scene in 2019 when, as a 15-year-old, she beat Venus Williams on her way to the last 16 at Wimbledon.
Her climb since then has been steady and she is now ranked No 22 in the world with two WTA Tour titles to her name. She also enjoyed her best Grand Slam performance in 2021 as she made the quarter-finals of the French Open.
Gauff, 17, has now made at least the last 16 at three of the four Grand Slams and thinks she can contend for a maiden major win in 2022.
“I definitely feel ready," she said. "I would say honestly I think I felt ready pretty much after 2019 Wimbledon. Going into that tournament obviously it wasn't something I expected to win well. But I think making second weeks in multiple Grand Slams, I think it shows that I can play at that level.
“Obviously the last two or three matches you really got to bring your game. I think that's what we worked on, fine-tuning some things so in the quarter-final, semi-final matches, you can get through those.
“The biggest target is winning a Grand Slam. That's the goal. But for me also just continuing to be a better person and better player on the court.
“I would say handling my emotions a little bit better are something I need to work on, and I worked on…Hopefully when there's more adversity going on in the matches, I can still keep that straight face, I don't really know, poker face, yeah, pokerface in the match.”
Gauff breezed through her opening match of the year at the Adelaide International, beating Norwegian qualifier Ulrikke Eikeri 6-2 6-1 in 63 minutes.
She will next face home favourite Barty in a marquee match-up on Wednesday.
It will be the second time they have met, with Barty retiring with an arm injury during their Rome quarter-final in 2021. They also faced off in doubles earlier this week, Barty and Storm Sanders beating Gauff and Caty McNally 6-0 7-6(4).
“Obviously the last time we played it didn't end how we both wanted it to,” said Gauff.
“It's a little bit different now on hard court. I think the timing of playing her I don't think matters much…if anything, you want to play the best player - currently she's No 1 - the best player early in the season because everything will maybe not seem easy but you're starting off strong.
“You got some things to look forward to, especially Australian Open coming up. This is probably the best matchup I could get.
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“Obviously you want to win every tournament you play. But the big focus is the Grand Slams. For me playing this tournament was to see how many matches, consecutive matches, I could get in before Australian Open. I think this would be a perfect kind of test for me.”
Barty was the standout WTA singles player in 2021, winning five singles titles, including Wimbledon, and stretching her stay as world No 1 to over 100 consecutive weeks.
Having shut down her 2021 season sooner than expected, opting not to play in the season-ending finals in Mexico, Barty had a longer-than-usual pre-season in Australia.
She says she is now raring to go and looking for small improvements in her game.
“It's continuing to try to work on my game and better every facet of my game, whether it's how I hit a specific forehand, when I use a shot. It's all about using that in matches correctly. A lot of that is match awareness as much as being able to strike a tennis ball.
“It's something that is a challenge that I love. I love to try to get better each and every day. I feel as though if you can continue to improve each and every day, that's a good thing. That's kind of what you're after.
“Yeah, I mean, I'm excited now to try and bring it all together as best that I can and understand in the next couple weeks I'll have to be patient with myself, it has been awhile since I've played a competitive match. But I feel good. I feel ready. Now it's just about going out there and enjoying it.”
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