‘The goal is No 1’: Gauff at crossroads after hitting first speed bumps

H alfway through her third-round tussle with Paula Badosa in Madrid this month, Coco Gauff’s mind was elsewhere. Errors sprayed from her racket and she could barely land a forehand inside the court. Gauff haemorrhaged game after game, sharing grim expressions with her team. She was dismantled 6-3, 6-0.

“I mentally wasn’t engaged in that second set. I let something happen in the first, maybe one or two bad points. I just stayed down,” said Gauff this week in Rome.

Last year, the clay court season was the site of the most meaningful result of her career: her first grand slam final at the French Open. It was a moment. Gauff has shouldered so much hype and attention since arriving on the tour aged 15 years old at Wimbledon in 2019. Reaching a major final was validation that she remained on the right path.

During her still short career, Gauff’s progression has been continuous and deeply impressive. She is ranked fifth, 49 places above the second-best of her age group, Linda Noskova. She is still so far ahead of the curve that until last summer when she faced Robin Montgomery, a 294-ranked wildcard, and Noskova this year, Gauff had never played against a younger opponent.

This year, however, the 19-year-old seems to have reached a notable intersection. Recent weeks have not been easy – she lost consecutive matches to Anastasia Potapova, striking more than 50 unforced errors during her straight-sets defeat to the Russian in Stuttgart. Then came Madrid.

These difficulties have coincided with off-court turbulence. Last month, her coach, Diego Moyano, ended their collaboration due to personal reasons, meaning she has been travelling with her father as her coach. While decisions were previously made for her, she is now embracing