Coco Gauff wanted to make one thing clear in her pre-tournament presser in Indian Wells as the world No. 3 didn’t think her back-to-back losses in Doha and Dubai were the end of the world or anything like that.
Although expected to bid for the titles, the American tennis star didn’t enjoy any success during the opening two WTA 1000 tournaments of the year in the Middle East.
First, the 2023 US Open champion was upset by Marta Kostyuk in her Doha opener before rising American McCartney Kessler also sent her packing out of Dubai after only one match played.
Before losing her last three matches – that includes an Australian Open quarterfinal loss to Paula Badosa – Gauff won her first nine matches of 2025 and she was also victorious in her last two matches of last year at the WTA Finals.
Gauff: Why are people making this a big deal and saying, ‘She is sinking’
“I don’t know, everybody makes a bigger deal than what it is… I lost two matches. I’ll lose more matches back to back, it’s going to happen,” the 20-year-old explained.
“Everyone is, like, ‘Oh, she’s sinking.’ Okay, we’ve been through this. I’ll pick it back up.
“To me, for me I guess it feels like a month but it’s just two tournaments, and at this calendar I have so many other opportunities, and I can’t win every match.”
In the same interview, Gauff noted that while she expects to go through back-to-back losses again at some point in her career, she added that “hopefully it doesn’t happen too many times in my career.”
In Indian Wells, the American is seeded at No. 3 and has a first-round bye before clashing against either Emma Raducanu or Moyuka Uchijima.
“You know the results will come. It’s, you know, just normal, I think,” she added.
There is no doubt that Gauff, who reached her first Indian Wells semifinal last year, would absolutely love to turn the page this week in the desert.
Tennis World USA