{"id":65525,"date":"2025-08-07T16:44:08","date_gmt":"2025-08-07T16:44:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/65525\/"},"modified":"2025-08-07T16:44:08","modified_gmt":"2025-08-07T16:44:08","slug":"coco-gauff-manifested-a-grand-slam-title-at-the-french-open-or-did-she","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/65525\/","title":{"rendered":"Coco Gauff manifested a Grand Slam title at the French Open. Or did she?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Editor\u2019s Note:\u00a0This story is part of Peak, The Athletic\u2019s desk covering leadership, personal development and success through the lens of sports. Follow Peak\u00a0here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The idea came from an Olympic gold medalist, and the ritual didn\u2019t take long, so on the night before the 2025 French Open final, Coco Gauff<\/a> pulled out a pen and a small piece of paper.<\/p>\n

\u201cI will win French Open 2025,\u201d she scribbled.<\/p>\n

Then she kept writing.<\/p>\n

\u201cI will win French Open 2025\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI will win French Open 2025\u201d<\/p>\n

When she ran out of paper, she\u2019d filled up eight lines<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Gauff had borrowed the technique from Gabby Thomas, the American sprinter who spent every morning at the Paris Olympics writing a similar intention in the Notes app on her phone: \u201cI will be Olympic champion.\u201d<\/p>\n

To Gauff, it reminded her of something she\u2019d discussed with her therapist. She\u2019d always had an inclination for self-doubt, for negative thoughts that creep in before matches. Instead of ignoring them, her therapist wondered, what if she re-directed them?<\/p>\n

\u201cInstead of being like, \u2018What if I lose?\u2019\u201d Gauff explained on \u201cGood Morning America\u201d<\/a> earlier this year. \u201cThink about, \u2018What if I win?\u2019 Or, \u2018I will win.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

In the parlance of Gen Z, there was an easy way to describe what Gauff was doing. She was manifesting; at least, that\u2019s how some saw it. It was an old idea that resurfaced during the pandemic and caught fire online, resulting in a TikTok trend of \u201cvision boards,\u201d where people illustrated their end goals with images, or \u201cscripting,\u201d the practice of writing down your goals and desires over and over.<\/p>\n

The concept of manifestation gained popularity in the 2000s, when the self-help book \u201cThe Secret\u201d promoted the Law of Attraction, an idea that positive thoughts bring forth positive results. In reality, it was a repurposed version of the ancient theory of karma, or the belief that good deeds will lead to positive outcomes.<\/p>\n

When it came to the French Open, the outcome gave rise to an alluring idea: Gauff had defeated Aryna Sabalenka<\/a> to win her second Grand Slam title through sheer force of will and positive thinking. She had, as the phrase went, spoken her win into existence.<\/p>\n

But was that right?<\/p>\n

Researchers have long cautioned there is no scientific basis for the idea of manifesting. \u201cMagical thinking,\u201d said Elliot Berkman, a psychology professor at the University of Oregon who studies motivation and behavior change.<\/p>\n

But athletes are a fascinating cohort. They follow unusual routines. They lean on superstition and positive self-talk to increase confidence and belief.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you\u2019re desperate,\u201d Gauff told reporters, \u201cyou\u2019re just trying anything to think that it\u2019s going to help you win.\u201d<\/p>\n

The law of attraction will not carry an athlete to victory on pure positive vibes, psychologists say, but there are actual scientific reasons why writing down your intentions and goals \u2014 why saying, \u201cI will win\u201d \u2014 could offer a genuine performance benefit.<\/p>\n

A 2017 study by researchers at the University of Toronto showed that utilizing a ritual before performance can reduce anxiety and help an athlete rebound from failure. Another sport psychology professor says that writing down a simple intention can be powerful if the athlete then imagines what winning would look and feel like, which activates the same part of the brain used during performance, a concept known as functional equivalence.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019re still activating those neural pathways that you would in the real world,\u201d said Alan Chu, an associate professor at the UNC Greensboro.<\/p>\n

Studies have long shown that people who write down their goals are more likely to achieve them. One explanation is what psychologists call the \u201cGeneration effect,\u201d which indicates that people are more likely to remember information that they\u2019ve actively produced rather than passively consumed.<\/p>\n

There is also no shortage of athletes who spent their formative years writing down their goals on paper. Michael Phelps, the legendary Olympic swimmer, would list his goals<\/a>, then post the paper in a closet, where only he could see it. Emmitt Smith, the NFL\u2019s all-time leading rusher, started writing down his goals in high school, adhering to a message passed on from his coach<\/a>: \u201cIt\u2019s a dream until you write it down; then it becomes a goal.\u201d<\/p>\n

It was a similar sentiment to one repeated by former MLB outfielder Ichiro Suzuki when he was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame<\/a> in late July.<\/p>\n

\u201cDreaming is fun, but goals are difficult and challenging,\u201d Suzuki said. \u201cIt\u2019s not enough to say I want to do something. If you are serious about it, you must think critically about what is necessary to achieve it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Suzuki\u2019s message underlined the main flaw in the Law of Attraction doctrine. Berkman, the Oregon professor, says that research has shown that dwelling on the end result is often counterproductive in pursuing a goal.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it is actually fairly intuitive why that doesn\u2019t work,\u201d he said. \u201cLike, if I want to get from here to Kathmandu, just thinking about being in Kathmandu is not going to get me there.\u201d<\/p>\n

But for Thomas and Gauff, the act of writing down their intention was less about outlining a goal or a behavior change, and more about putting them in the right mindset to compete. In this way, the process of writing the same intention over and over may have yielded a different effect, one that increased their resilience.<\/p>\n

In 2017, Nick Hobson, then a research psychologist at the University of Toronto, published a study that found that people who used a ritual before completing a task had less of a neurological response in the brain when they made an error.<\/p>\n

The explanation is fairly simple: The part of the brain associated with failure, called the anterior cingulate cortex, possesses something akin to an \u201coh s\u2014 signal,\u201d Hobson said.<\/p>\n

When a person uses a ritual before performance, it dampens the signal.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019re going to make a mistake in any performance context,\u201d Hobson said. \u201cSo how do you trick your brain \u2014 your behavior \u2014 to say, \u2018I just made an error. That\u2019s OK. Let\u2019s slow down so that you prevent the occurrence of a subsequent error?\u2019 I think that\u2019s what rituals do. It makes the sting of a failure less aversive.\u201d<\/p>\n

Chu, the professor at UNC Greensboro, says there may be an even better way for an athlete to lift themselves up through positive self talk. Some research has suggested that athletes may get an even bigger dopamine boost by talking to themselves in the second person.<\/p>\n

\u201cUsing the word \u2018you\u2019 sometimes could be more helpful than using the word \u2018I\u2019,\u201d Chu said. \u201cBecause you are almost feeling like you\u2019re hearing that voice from a third party.\u201d<\/p>\n

For Gauff, the post-match explanation of her mental strategy was almost beside the point.<\/p>\n

As she\u00a0scribbled on a piece of paper and looked in the mirror, she wasn\u2019t sure if it would work or not. But for one day, it\u00a0did.<\/p>\n

That was enough.<\/p>\n

(Illustration: Dan Goldfarb \/ The Athletic; Yanshan Zhang \/ Getty Images)<\/p>\n