Coco Gauff gets honest on how she now feels about Olympics after controversial loss

Gauff reflects on her Olympic debut after failing to achieve her dream of winning a medal.

Coco Gauff says she is refusing to have a negative or pessimistic view of her Paris Olympics campaign as the American tennis star insists it was still “an incredible experience” despite failing to achieve the goal she set for herself and exiting the singles event after a very controversial call that was made against her.

Before and after arriving in Paris, world No. 2 Gauff made it perfectly 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 although Gauff was one of the top favorites for a medal in singles and she also appeared to have good chances of landing one in either women’s or mixed doubles, it didn’t happen for the 20-year-old American at this year’s Olympics.

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

Since Gauff and Pegula have been looking like one of the best doubles teams in the last few years, they were considered one of the top favorites for the gold medal in women’s doubles. But their run ended in the round-of-16 following a loss to Karolina Muchova and Linda Noskova. In mixed doubles, Gauff and Taylor Fritz lost to Gabriela Dabrowski and Felix Auger-Aliassime in the quarterfinal.

However, Gauff may not have won an Olympic medal but she still got to experience something that will forever be a highlight of her career and life – she was the flag bearer for the US Olympic team with LeBron James.

“I think I’m just trying to learn from this experience and overall it was positive. I would a hundred percent choose to do it again, even if I lost first round in everything. It was something that was incredible. Being flag bearer was something I wouldn’t have expected, and meeting all the incredible people that I met, I don’t take it lightly. And every Olympics that I qualify in, I’ll for sure play unless I’m injured,” Gauff said.

Gauff admits she ‘does not have expectations’ for Toronto

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

“I have no expectations for this week. I’m not going into this expecting to win. It will obviously be great. 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 just to see where I’m at what I need to do to get ready for the US Open,” Gauff said.

In the past, Gauff made three appearances at the National Bank Open – which rotates between Toronto and Montreal – and she was a quarterfinalist each time. In her lone Toronto appearance in 2022, Gauff reached the quarterfinal before losing to Simona Halep. Also, Gauff won the doubles with Pegula in Toronto two years ago.

And addressing how she particularly feels about Toronto, Gauff suggested that she absolutely loves the place.

“Yeah, for sure in Toronto maybe not so much Montreal just because it’s more the French side. But for sure, in Toronto, it feels as close as you can get to the US. The fans, they’re really receptive of me. I got to meet some cool people so, yeah, I’m excited to hopefully have a good week here,” Gauff said.

What happened in Gauff’s last singles match

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

After the incident, Gauff didn’t win a single game. Afterward, Gauff called for the introduction of video reviews for such situations and added that although she was frustrated by the entire situation, she wasn’t blaming that particular moment for her loss.