Coco Gauff won her second Grand Slam title at Roland Garros earlier this year.
Gauff beat Aryna Sabalenka in the Roland Garros final, adding to her US Open title from 2023.
However, the world number two was unable to continue this at her next major tournament, with Gauff losing in the first round of Wimbledon to Dayana Yastresmska.
It has still been a very strong start to the season for American women, with Madison Keys also winning the Australian Open.
Now Gauff’s former doubles partner has revealed how she felt watching her compatriot’s succeed while she was competing in lower level tournaments.
Photo by Tnani Badreddine/DeFodi Images/DeFodi via Getty ImagesCaty McNally explains how she felt watching Coco Gauff win Roland Garros
Gauff has been a big name on the tennis circuit since the age of 15, where she beat Venus Williams in a breakthrough run to the fourth round of Wimbledon.
However, her first official win on the WTA Tour came at the Miami Open, where Gauff would beat Caty McNally.
Gauff and McNally were also doubles partners at the time, before the former went on to become one of the top players on the WTA Tour.
McNally’s career has gone in a very different trajectory to Gauff’s, having fallen outside the top 1000 in the WTA rankings last year after undergoing elbow surgery.
Despite this, she does not appear to hold any bitterness towards her compatriots, and McNally told Tennis Channel that she has actually been inspired by the likes of Gauff, Keys and Wimbledon finalist Amanda Anisimova.
“It’s been extremely inspiring,” said McNally. “Madi won Australia, Coco won the French, Amanda being in the finals of Wimbledon.
“I think it just shows the depth of US tennis and those are just three of the many, many girls who are in the top 100 or top 50.
“There is just so many girls that are so good from the States. So I think if I had to say one word it would just be inspiring. For me it’s just continue to put your head down, keep working and I think eventually my time will come.”
McNally has made an impressive comeback from surgery, highlighted by her victory at the WTA 125 tournament in Newport, Rhode Island.
She was also the only player to take a set off Wimbledon champion Iga Swiatek, and has now risen back up to world number 135 in the WTA rankings.
Why do Coco Gauff and Caty McNally not play together anymore?
Gauff and McNally won five titles together, including winning the junior edition of Roland Garros in 2018.
They also reached the senior final of the US Open women’s doubles event in 2021, just losing out to Sam Stosur and Shuai Zhang.
YearTitle Gauff and McNally won together2018Junior Roland Garros2019Washington Open2019Luxembourg Open2021Charleston International2021Emilia-Romagna Open
The last time that Gauff and McNally competed at a WTA Tour event together was the 2022 Miami Open, where they reached the semifinals.
It was unclear as to why the pair decided to go separate ways, but McNally confirmed later that year that there was no bad blood between her and Gauff.
“Coco and I, yeah, like we are not playing right now, as everyone has probably seen, but we still have a great friendship,” McNally said in August 2022. “I still consider her one of my best friends on tour. We still support each other through the ups and downs.”
Gauff and McNally have since played doubles together at the Billie Jean King Cup, with their last match coming in April 2023.