Coco Gauff continued her superb run at the 2024 Australian Open by taking down Marta Kostyuk 7-6, 6-7, 6-2 to reach the semi-finals in Melbourne where Aryna Sabalenka will now await in a bumper clash and amid gaining a lot of acclaim, Martina Navratilova is another who is full of praise for the 19-year-old.
Gauff has already won the US Open at this age and has been on a title tear as of late winning Auckland at the start of the year after superb success in the US both before and during her run at Flushing Meadows. Navratilova sees her as having an old head on young shoulders with her mentality of taking it one game at a time and that she wasn’t as mature as Gauff is showing at her age. It goes down not only to how she plays on court, but also mindset and it is something that the American is continuing to master as she heads out of her teens.
“I really like how she’s just taking it one match at a time. It’s an old cliche but it’s the only way you can get there. And so, I know she’s not looking ahead because you can see it in the way she’s acting on the court, the way she’s playing or she’s focused. She’s just thinking about the next point, nothing else,” said Navratilova on Tennis Channel.
“And that’s just massive for somebody that young. I know I certainly wasn’t that mature at 19, so kudos to her and her team. I mean, she’s a good listener but still to be able to do it with your head and control it that well, amazing.”
Coco Gauff does a little dance after reaching her first Australian Open SF 😂
— The Tennis Letter (@TheTennisLetter) January 23, 2024