Coco Gauff arrived at Roland Garros on Friday as the defending champion and told reporters she has been seeing a therapist and journaling as she prepares for her first-round match against Taylor Townsend. Gauff, 22, is scheduled to face Townsend in the opening round; the draw is detailed here:
The numbers underline why Paris is more than another tournament for her: Gauff is a two-time Grand Slam champion at 22, she has a 27-5 main-draw record in Paris and, according to Sportico, was the highest-paid female athlete last year with $31 million in prize money and sponsorships. She became the youngest girls’ champion in Paris in 2018 at 14, was a finalist at Roland-Garros in 2022 — where she lost to Iga Swiatek 6-1, 6-3 — and won the women’s title last year after a comeback against Aryna Sabalenka.
Gauff said she has been working on the inside game as much as the outside: "I have a therapist that I have been going to for a long time, and also, just journaling," she told reporters. She added that her aim is to try to take pressure off the scoreboard and focus on preparation: "When I’m playing the matches, I just want to win literally every point in the most perfect way. Obviously, it just doesn’t always happen for me like that all the time." She followed that with a longer view: "I think I can see where I want to be, and I want to be there so bad. But I’m just trying now to focus on the process: The ups and downs of the journey of tennis. It’s something that I can hone in on and do well at times, and other times I cannot do so well."
Context is simple: Paris has been a home venue for Gauff’s biggest moments. Seven years after her junior title, she returned to the final in 2022 and stood on the top step last year. "It's obviously different thinking about last year, but last year feels like ten years ago," she said, and added that her history in Paris gives her confidence even when she is not at her best: "Even if I'm not doing my best in the match, I know I can find that level just because of my history here, but it's also something I'm not thinking about entering the match."
The tension is visible. Gauff arrives off a demanding swing in which she has reached two WTA 1000 finals since January and lost both in three hard-fought sets. Two Sundays before this news conference she hit herself on the head with her racket during the Italian Open final against Elina Svitolina — a moment she downplayed: "It didn’t hurt," she said, adding that her big braids softened the blow. Last weekend she lost again to Svitolina in Rome, and Gauff’s emotional volatility has shown at other times: after an Australian Open quarterfinal loss, cameras caught her smashing her racket underneath the stadium.
Gauff framed those episodes as part of a learning curve. "I think this week I experienced all the ups and downs that a tournament can bring you before a Grand Slam," she said. "I've been down, had the lead, lost the lead, I've been in the final, been down match point – I think I've experienced every scenario that can prepare me for Roland-Garros. Hopefully I can actually learn from each scenario and do better." When asked about the memory of lifting the trophy in Paris last year, she admitted nerves and relief: "I was just so nervous," she said. "Honestly, I don't remember much. I just remember in the trophy ceremony, being, like, ‘I never want to lose a match like this again.’"
All of it points to the central test ahead: can the process she describes translate into steadier tennis through two weeks in Paris? She has history and form enough to be a favorite, but the recent losses, the public outbursts and the very recent head knock complicate the picture. The single immediate test is simple — the first-round match against Townsend — and how she manages it will likely determine whether she walks into the second week as a true title defender or as a champion still searching for consistency.
