World No. 2 Coco Gauff was shockingly eliminated from the first round of Wimbledon on Tuesday after Ukraine's Dayana Yastremska defeated her in straight sets.
The 21-year-old later opened up about the loss while speaking to the media following the match, which notably arrived not long after she earned her second Grand Slam title at Roland-Garros.
"I feel like mentally I was a little bit overwhelmed with everything that came afterwards," a calm but visibly upset Gauff said, "so I didn't feel like I had enough time to celebrate and also get back into it."
Gauff mentioned she knew it would be a tough draw vs. Yastremska, and noted that adjusting to a grass court after weeks of playing on clay was definitely part of the challenge for her.
"It's difficult, but I have faith that if I can make these adjustments, I can do well here," she said. "I really do want to do well here. I'm not someone who wants to write myself off grass this early in my career, but I definitely do need to make some changes if I want to be successful here."
As Gauff seemed to mention, she has yet to make it past the fourth round at Wimbledon and has now exited in the first round twice in the past three years. She is not alone, however, in her struggle transitioning from clay to grass.
But even knowing that, she had a understandably tough time coming off the court on Tuesday.
"I don't like losing. And I think for me, the main thing I'm sure my team and everyone's gonna tell me is, 'You did well at Roland-Garros. Don't be so upset,' and things like that. But I don't really like losing, and I don't know, I just feel a little bit disappointed with how I showed up today," she said, through tears.
"I feel like I could have been a little bit better in those tough tiebreaker moments, especially after Roland-Garros, where I feel like I learned a lot in those tiebreakers. So obviously I'm not going to dwell on this too long because I want to do well at the U.S. Open. And maybe losing here first round isn't the worst thing in the world because I have some time to reset. But it definitely sucks."
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Of course, Gauff also gave Yastremska her flowers, noting at the top of the presser that, "Dayana started off playing strong."
Yastremska, the world No. 42, won 7–6 (7–3), 6–1 on Tuesday.
“It was a great match today, I was really on fire," the 25-year-old said of the contest. "Playing against Coco, it is something special. She’s a great player, great person, we have a very good relationship, I enjoyed it a lot."
Yastremska will next play Russia's Anastasia Zakharova in round two.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as An Emotional Coco Gauff Opens Up About Shocking Wimbledon Loss vs. Dayana Yastremska.
