INDIAN WELLS TENNIS GARDEN, California – No. 3 seed Coco Gauff of the United States rallied from 5-2 down in the deciding set to post a win over France’s Clara Burel 2-6, 6-3, 7-6(4) in her opening match at the BNP Paribas Open in the second round. Seeds received a bye in the first round.
The soon-to-be 20-year-old said that she told herself at 5-2 down: “Just trying to trust myself and be aggressive. I really tried to focus on making her run and not letting her attack with her forehand.”
“When playing in the States, 100%. You know the crowd is going to be with you unless you’re playing another American.
“Yeah, they definitely were trying to root me on, especially in the tough moments. I’m glad I was able to come out through at the end.”
Gauff turns 20 on March 13. She was asked about how she is celebrating, especially since her birthday is during a tournament.
“Yeah, it’s always difficult. I really haven’t celebrated that much since I’ve been playing professional tennis, just because this tournament always falls on my birthday. Sometimes we go to dinner, but, you know, don’t know when I’m going to play. So yeah, we’ll just — we’ll do a dinner but probably not on the actual day. Maybe at the end of the tournament. I’m not a huge, like, birthday, like, I obviously love celebrating, but, you know, I’m not, like, the partying, go-out type. I don’t have anything planned.
“Yeah, probably a dinner or something.”
She was also asked what it’s like being a teenager. She answered:
“The most fun part, hmm, I think just the friends I’ve made along the way so far. Yeah, I met a lot of cool people. Made a lot of friends. Yeah, the support system I have is great.
“One thing I would change, I wouldn’t change, like, anything. I guess I would just tell myself just to relax a little bit more. You know, that’s probably going to be the thing I need to tell myself my whole life. So just relax and enjoy the ride.”
