{"id":572074,"date":"2026-03-29T12:52:09","date_gmt":"2026-03-29T12:52:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/572074\/"},"modified":"2026-03-29T12:52:09","modified_gmt":"2026-03-29T12:52:09","slug":"nowhere-near-my-peak-of-tennis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/572074\/","title":{"rendered":"Nowhere Near My Peak of Tennis"},"content":{"rendered":"

It was not the outcome she wanted, but Coco Gauff came within one set of defeating Aryna Sabalenka and winning the Miami Open. Sabalenka defeated Gauff in three sets to complete the Sunshine Double<\/a>: 6-2, 4-6, 6-3.<\/p>\n

It was not a bad showing at all for Gauff, who almost missed the WTA Masters 1000 event due to a shoulder injury. Below are the three biggest quotes from her post-match press conference that summarize her strategy, mindset, and growing self-confidence.<\/p>\n

\"Aryna<\/p>\n

Aryna Sabalenka and Coco Gauff after the Miami Open final. | Mike Frey-Imagn Images<\/p>\n

Second Set Strategy<\/p>\n

The first question was about Gauff’s success in the second set. She explained, “I guess tactically, what I did well, because I’ll probably\u00a0try to redo it again. But yeah, I\u00a0think I’m most disappointed about that\u00a0first game in the third set, up 30-Love,\u00a0and with momentum from breaking her\u00a0to win the set. <\/p>\n

Gauff continued, “And I feel like that’s an\u00a0important game to win in that moment. Especially because I felt I\u00a0wasn’t getting a lot of breaks, but I\u00a0was making her play a lot of balls, considering how big her serve is. I think that’s something I have\u00a0to learn from in a moment. <\/p>\n

In the second set, I was\u00a0just able to raise my level. I felt in the first I was letting her dictate a lot, which is tough because it’s\u00a0Aryna, but I thought in the second I was\u00a0doing a lot of dictating and playing a\u00a0bit more aggressive, making more\u00a0deeper returns, and things like that. But\u00a0yeah, that first game I felt I was a\u00a0bit disappointed about.”<\/p>\n

\"Coco<\/p>\n

Coco Gauff serves against Aryna Sabalenka at the Miami Open. | Mike Frey-Imagn Images<\/p>\n

Solutions to Serve and Forehand<\/p>\n

When asked about solutions to her serve and forehand woes, Gauff explained, “I think for me it’s just focusing\u00a0on the process and the journey\u00a0more so than the result. I think I can\u00a0be a very result-based person at times\u00a0and revolve my life around if\u00a0it’s going good or not based on my\u00a0tennis, and I don’t think that’s healthy, just because they’re going to be good\u00a0times and bad times, like you said. <\/p>\n

I think this week I\u00a0started off with just minimum goals,\u00a0which was just to win that\u00a0second set of that first match. And I think when you focus on the little\u00a0goals along the way, obviously, have the\u00a0grand goal, then things become a lot\u00a0easier.”<\/p>\n

\"Coco<\/p>\n

Coco Gauff reacts after missing a shot during her match against Aryna Sabalenka. | Mike Frey-Imagn Images<\/p>\n

Homecoming Nerves<\/p>\n

The importance of playing in front of her hometown fans in Miami is never lost on Gauff, but she dismissed the idea that nerves played a role in Saturday’s loss. “I wasn’t really nervous, honestly, to\u00a0start the match,” Gauff said. <\/p>\n

“I haven’t been nervous\u00a0really all week, except the first round. Just when you make a final, you’re\u00a0not expecting it. It wasn’t any nerves\u00a0involved. I feel\u00a0like I’m nowhere near my peak of\u00a0my tennis. So, I think it gives me\u00a0comfort a little bit playing these\u00a0tournaments and having great results.”<\/p>\n

Stay locked into Sports Illustrated’s\u00a0Serve On SI\u00a0for all of your tennis news from the court and beyond.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It was not the outcome she wanted, but Coco Gauff came within one set of defeating Aryna Sabalenka…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":572075,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[565],"tags":[64,63,85,747],"class_list":["post-572074","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tennis","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-sports","tag-tennis"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/572074","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=572074"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/572074\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/572075"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=572074"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=572074"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=572074"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}