C. GAUFF/S. Sierra
5-7, 6-0, 6-4
THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.
Q. Your thoughts on that strange match?
COCO GAUFF: Yeah, it was a tough day for me. Yeah, it's one of those days where you don't feel great and you have to play a match. It's like, I can't cuss, but yeah. That was today. I'm happy I got through it.
Yeah, one of those days I just didn't feel I guess motivated to go on the court. Then when you're on the court, you're motivated. You get too frustrated.
Q. Was it a mental or physical not wanting to go?
COCO GAUFF: No, mental. Just personal things off court that I'm just trying to get through, so...
Yeah, but then you also remember how much fun you have. I think my regret today was not enjoying the battle, for sure.
Q. Is it just today or...
COCO GAUFF: I mean, I've been going through it for a few months. I mean, good days and bad days, yeah.
Q. How do you find that, trying to get yourself up for tennis?
COCO GAUFF: I think for me, I try to remind myself the people that watch, knowing that they support me, just my team, they work very hard, so I try to show up.
Although today maybe wasn't my best in the grand scheme of things, it's what I had today. I think it's something to be proud of and just to learn from how to handle, like, those circumstances better, for sure.
Q. When you were down Love-3, where was your head at?
COCO GAUFF: I mean, I felt like I won 6-0 the second set very quickly, so I was like I can definitely run off a few games. Even in the first I had chances to go 4-2, things like that.
Obviously I didn't want to go down a double break, but also wasn't completely out of it in my head.
Q. Is there anything you do to recalibrate in those moments so you don't keep going in the circle?
COCO GAUFF: Usually I like to say positive affirmations, go to my towel and things like that. Today I just lost all sort of routine and sense.
Yeah, I mean, I kind of let the anger out. Kind of helped me win the second set. I don't think it was all too bad. I think there's a better way to disperse it, for sure.
Q. A couple years ago the period towards the end with Brad, the defeats at Wimbledon and the U.S., is it different than that? That was about your game; today was less about your game.
COCO GAUFF: I think it was very different. I think for that, that time was more like on-court things, just not having a game where I feel...
Now I feel like I have solutions with my game. I'm serving a lot better, returning, just doing everything better than I was in that period.
I think for most of my career I've been having to only focus on my game. So it's weird when your mind is in a different place. You're also feeling confident on court.
I don't know, that's what I felt today. I do feel, like, pretty confident in my game right now. So yeah, I think I just have to mesh it all together. I don't know.
Q. Looking ahead to your next matches, is there a solution in your head to throw yourself into your tennis and focus on that?
COCO GAUFF: I think the tennis is great. It's something that keeps me, like, sane for the most part. But it's also important I think to do other things in life that make me happy.
I don't know. Like I said, I've been playing good tennis throughout this period. I mean, today was a rough day. I think I'm glad that it happened here maybe and I was able to push through it.
I'm sure there's going to be many more tough days in my career, tough periods that people don't know. I think that's the beauty, too, about this sport: even though you can go through something, you still have the chance to show up and do something to make yourself proud of yourself.
Q. Is there any sort of resolution in sight or is it something you're going to have to manage?
COCO GAUFF: Just something I have to manage. I don't know. It's life, being a woman (laughter).
Q. Is it fair to say then it's a menstrual thing?
COCO GAUFF: No, no, no, no. Not that (laughter).
Q. I'm not going to ask.
COCO GAUFF: No one's going to know. I'm not going to talk about it. I am trying to be transparent but also not, like, give the whole world my business, too.
Q. In general, when your life is that hard, you want to be vulnerable to people but keep your own self.
COCO GAUFF: It's difficult because I do like being transparent in the press. I'm sure you guys maybe got that sense from me. I think it's important, too, because then you're going to be asked about it, you might be fine. Then you're going to be asked about it and I don't want to talk about that right now.
It's one of those things I want to be transparent and vulnerable, I want people to know we show up when we're not always 100% perfect. It's a fine balance.
My on co-court stuff I like to talk about and be vulnerable about. Off court, just depends on the topic really.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports