Coco Gauff hasn’t had much luck against Iga Swiatek in the past, but she’s eyeing a turnaround in the rivalry in the future.
Gauff and Swiatek have played 12 times so far, with the Polsih player winning 11 of those. The tenth match between them was played recently in Rome, and the 11th and most recent one happened at Roland Garros in Paris.
It was once again a one-sided affair, as the American struggled to create any kind of pressure on Swiatek. It’s been a problem for her. The matchup isn’t easy; she won only once, and she doesn’t seem getting closer to turning around the matchup on her side.
She wants to do it, believes she can do it, and will do it, and she spoke about it immediately after losing to the world no. 1 player in the semi-finals of the 2024 Roland Garros.
“Yeah, I think long-term I feel like it’s definitely something… I can’t sit here and say it’s something I’m not going to want to turn around. I have to be positive and believe in myself.”
“Today I felt very confident going into the match. I know that there are things that I can improve to make this a closer score line. Like, first-serve percentage was pretty low, I think.”
Gauff knows she has a lot to improve in her game, which will take time, but if she puts in the work and works on her shots, then she can make this matchup more competitive than it’s been so far.
She even knows what needs to be done, and that’s a good start, but taking it to the world no. 1 will be another important step on her journey, as she managed to beat her only once in 12 matches so far.
“From Rome to this week I improved a lot on my serve. Even though it’s not where I want it to be, but going from, like, 15 double faults to maybe 3 or 4 today, I don’t know, it’s a big improvement.”
“I don’t feel like my game is all the way developed yet. I feel like when I, I guess, feel like I reach my peak, then I can maybe answer the question, but I definitely don’t think I’m there yet.”