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Following her loss to Iga Swiatek in the semifinals of the 2024 French Open, Coco Gauff opened up about her perspective on what it would take to overcome her lopsided rivalry with the World No. 1. While the American shared an insight into her mindset, tennis fans took issue with labeling their matches as a rivalry due to Swiatek's one-sided dominance.
Top seed and two-time defending champion Iga Swiatek advanced to her third consecutive Roland Garros final with a clinical 6-2, 6-4 victory over the American in an hour and 37 minutes. With her win, the World No. 1 extended her dominant head-to-head record against Gauff to 11-1.
The 20-year-old contemplated what she needed to do to turn their rivalry around in her post-match press conference. She expressed satisfaction with the signs of improvement she had shown since her recent loss to Iga Swiatek in the Italian Open semifinals.
"Yeah, I think long-term I feel like it's definitely something, I mean, I can't sit here and say it's something I'm not going to want to turn around. I have to be positive and believe in myself. Today I felt very confident going into the match," she said.
"I know that there are things that I can improve to make this a closer scoreline. Like, first-serve percentage was pretty low, I think. From Rome to this week I improved a lot on my serve. Even though it's not where I want it to be, but going from, like, 15 double faults to maybe 3 or 4 today, I don't know, it's a big improvement," she added.
However, the American also asserted that her game isn't entirely developed yet, suggesting that she will have a better response once she reaches her peak level.
"I don't feel like my game is all the way developed yet. I feel like when I, I guess, feel like I reach my peak, then I can maybe answer the question, but I definitely don't think I'm there yet," she said.
While some fans were appreciative of Coco Gauff's honest self-assessment, the majority argued that her one-sided matches against the four-time Grand Slam champion didn't qualify as a rivalry.
"Funny rivalry when constantly losing in straight sets," one fan commented.
"She’s not in the same class, which is patently obvious to anyone watching," another fan chimed in.
"What kind of rivalry they’re talking about when #Swiatek is winning every single match? I think they should reformulate their question," said yet another.
Several fans also contended that there was no real threat to the World No. 1's dominance, highlighting her 8-3 winning record against Aryna Sabalenka as well.
"How many rivalries does Iga have? First it was Saba, now its Coco. WTA has no rivalries its got a real top player and the rest. A rivalry only forms when a head to head is more even and that's not Iga and Coco, I'm sorry," one fan commented.
""Rivalry" it seems! I don't think Świątek has a rival yet. Even Sabalenka is far behind," said another.
One fan countered Gauff's remarks, suggesting that while the American hasn't reached her peak yet, neither has Iga Swiatek.
"The problem is that Swiatek haven’t reached her peak either," the fan remarked.
Others, meanwhile, drew parallels to similar one-sided rivalries in the sport, citing Serena Williams' 20-2 winning record against Maria Sharapova and Carlos Alcaraz's 6-0 dominance over Stefanos Tsitsipas.
"No, it's Maria vs Serena all over again," one fan posted.
"Tsitsipas V Alcaraz same thing, mentally defeated from the off," another fan shared.
"Coco Gauff is progressing a lot" - Iga Swiatek lavishes praise on American after French Open SF
Despite maintaining her nearly flawless record against Coco Gauff with ease, Iga Swiatek showered praise on the American for her progress, asserting that the 20-year-old will only continue to grow.
"Well I think she is progressing a lot. You can see by her results, you know last year's US Open for sure showed that she's tough. I think at this age it's kind of obvious that she is going to just grow," Iga Swiatek said in her on-court interview.
The Pole also hailed Gauff's consistency, sharing that she expected them to meet in many more "intense" battles on the biggest stages of the sport.
"So it's nice to see her handling well everything around her and it's not easy so I'm sure we're going to have plenty more really intense matches on the highest level because Coco is also one of the consistent players out there," she added.
As Iga Swiatek continues her quest to achieve a hat-trick at the French Open, she will take on Jasmine Paolini in a highly anticipated title clash. Paolini reached her maiden Grand Slam final by beating Mirra Andreeva 6-3, 6-1 in the semifinals.
