‘Hate me or love me, you can’t deny my progress’
Gauff was playing her first Wimbledon semi-final and is proud of her battling performances this fortnight, having played five consecutive three-setters between round two and the semi-finals.
“It’s tough to digest, but I don’t know, I’m happy,” said Gauff, who will move back into the world’s top five on Monday.
She doesn’t regret going for the drop shot on match point, although she knows better decision-making would be one of the lessons learned from the match, overall.
“There’s one thing to be, like, why play a drop shot? But then I think how many points I won off the drop shot,” said Gauff.
“Yes, people who don’t watch tennis are going to be like, ‘Why did you do that?’ At the end of the day, that’s the choice I made. Was it the right one in that moment? Maybe not. But then also, if I make it, everyone’s going to say how clutch of a shot that was.
“I think that’s just tennis. You lose some points off margins.
“It’s not a painful story. I think thousands of people would love to lose the semi-finals at Wimbledon on match point. This is something I wouldn’t love to experience again, for sure no. I think it will make my next moment when I win a match like this even sweeter.”
Gauff is pleased with the progress she has made on the surface, as well as with her serve and attacking game.
“Hate me or love me, you can’t deny the progress that’s been made this tournament. I don’t know, there’s a lot of positives. It gets me excited for the future, for sure,” she added.