Coco Gauff opens up about how she feels about the Olympics now after controversial loss

Coco Gauff says she refuses to have a negative or pessimistic view of her Olympic campaign in Paris. The American tennis star insists that it was still “an incredible experience”, despite not being able to achieve the goal she had set for herself and having to withdraw from the singles event after a highly controversial decision was taken against her.

Before and after arriving in Paris, the world No. 2 Gauff made it clear that winning an Olympic medal was one of her biggest goals and that she was on a mission at this year’s Summer Games. And while Gauff was one of the top favorites for a singles medal and also seemed to have a good chance of grabbing one in the women’s or mixed doubles, that didn’t happen for the 20-year-old American at this year’s Olympics.

In singles, Gauff suffered a shock defeat in the round of 16 6-7(7) 2-6 to eventual silver medallist Donna Vekic in a match marked by a highly controversial moment in the second set that left the 2023 US Open champion in tears and claiming she had been “cheated”.

As Gauff and Pegula appeared to be one of the best doubles teams in recent years, they were considered to be one of the top favorites for the gold medal in women’s doubles. However, their run ended in the round of 16 after a loss to Karolina Muchova and Linda Noskova. In mixed doubles, Gauff and Taylor Fritz lost in the quarterfinals to Gabriela Dabrowski and Felix Auger-Aliassime.

Gauff may not have won an Olympic medal, but she did experience something that will forever be a highlight of her career and life: she was the flag bearer for the U.S. Olympic team with LeBron James.

“I think I’m just trying to learn from this experience and overall it was positive. I would definitely do it again 100 percent even if I lost the first round in everything. It was something incredible. Being the flag bearer was something I didn’t expect and meeting all the great people I met is something I don’t take lightly. And any Olympics I qualify for, I will definitely play unless I get injured,” Gauff said.

Gauff admits she has ‘no expectations’ for Toronto

In the absence of Iga Swiatek, Gauff is the highest-seeded player in Toronto and had a first-round showing before facing Wang Yafan in the second round. That naturally makes Gauff one of the top favorites for the title. But given that she played on clay last week and didn’t get much practice on hard going in Toronto, the American tennis star is keeping her expectations low.

“I don’t have any expectations for this week. I’m not going into this expecting to win. It’s going to be great, of course. That’s the goal. But to be realistic, I was on clay three days ago. So yeah, I think overall I’m just using this to see where I’m at and what I need to do to prepare for the US Open,” Gauff said.

Gauff has appeared three times in the past at the National Bank Open, which rotates between Toronto and Montreal, and has been a quarterfinalist each time. In her only appearance in Toronto in 2022, Gauff reached the quarterfinals before losing to Simona Halep. Gauff also won the doubles with Pegula in Toronto two years ago.

And when she discussed her feelings about Toronto, Gauff said she loves the place.

“Yeah, definitely in Toronto, maybe not so much Montreal, just because it’s more the French side. But definitely, in Toronto it feels as close to the US as possible. The fans, they’ve been really receptive to me. I’ve met some cool people, so yeah, I’m looking forward to hopefully having a good week here,” Gauff said.

What happened in Gauff’s last singles match?

With Gauff down a set and facing a break point, Vekic’s ball was called out and the American returned it – her ball landing in the net. After the call was reversed and Vekic’s ball was called in, the chair umpire decided to give the point directly to the Croatian without replaying it, leaving Gauff stunned and incredulous, even crying and protesting that she is “constantly being cheated in this game” to the supervisor.

After the incident, Gauff did not win any matches. Gauff subsequently called for the introduction of video reviews for such situations and added that while she was frustrated by the whole situation, she did not blame that particular moment for her loss.

It remains to be seen whether Gauff can put all this behind him with a strong run against Toronto.