Gauff Left Empty in Loss to Osaka, but Eager to Build for the Future – Tennis Now

Coco Gauff’s US Open run came to an end on Monday afternoon in Flushing Meadows as the 21-year-old fell to Naomi Osaka in fourth-round action inside Arthur Ashe Stadium. It was a match that failed to meet expectations, as Gauff hit 33 unforced errors and never saw a break point. Gauff admitted afterwards that her performance fell short of her expectations.

“It’s disappointing. For sure it was not the level that I wanted to bring, but it is a step in the right direction I feel, and I think emotionally how much this week was, I think today I just stepped in, and I maybe was a little bit empty,” Gauff said. “She forced me to earn every point out there today.”

Despite the sting of defeat, Gauff remains clear-eyed about her journey. She acknowledged the difficulty of navigating the summer hard-court swing while striving to remedy deficiencies in her serve, and spoke candidly about the pressure she feels to succeed at a young age.

“I don’t know. I think today when I walked on the court — and, I don’t know, I feel like I put so much pressure on myself at my age at 21, and I realize how much the girls on tour are being successful at 25, 26, at those ages,” she said. “For me it just gets me excited to realize if I have four more years of just working as hard as I am right now and actually doing the right things, like where my game could be.”

Gauff has nothing to be ashamed of—she has already captured two of the last nine majors and remains one of the brightest young stars in tennis. Rather than resting on her laurels, she is committed to refining her game, particularly her serve, through continued work with biomechanics specialist Gavin MacMillan.

“It’s been a tough post-French Open for me,” Gauff said. “I know the improvements that I need to make, and I feel like I’m making the right decision by making them.”

She says she plans to take the treat the rest of the season as a warmup for the 2026 Australian Open, focusing little on results and mainly on continuing to develop her serve. ]

“I think there’s a lot of positives to take from this tournament, and I’m trying to be positive in front of you guys,” she said. “I promise you that I don’t feel that way right now, but I am not going to let this crush me.

“I look forward to the future and making more improvements. Yeah, hopefully next year I can grow a lot as a player and as a person.”