C. GAUFF/M. Linette
6-0, 6-4
THE MODERATOR: Coco, please share your thoughts on today's match.
COCO GAUFF: Yeah, I'm really happy with how I played. Obviously a smooth first set. Had chances to maybe close it out in the 5-3 game in the second, but happy I was able to close it out on my serve.
THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.
Q. Sorry to change the subject, but I know you saw the news about Rafa last night. Can you talk about what he meant to you and the sport of tennis.
COCO GAUFF: Yeah, he was or is my favorite person to watch. These retirements, we talk about like they're dead (smiling).
But he is my favorite person to watch practice honestly. The intensity that he brought on the practice court and obviously on the match court is something that I felt like watching is unmatched.
Watching the video, a bit emotional because Rafa is all I've known growing up. Yeah, he's all I've known. Pretty sure he's won Roland Garros for like the majority of my life.
Yeah, I guess it's something that's unfortunate. It's going to happen to everybody one day. Hopefully it was completely on his terms. I know maybe this year he didn't have as many injury-free moments as he wanted to.
Overall, the career he had is something that players and people dream of. Off the court he was always speaking to me, always saying congratulations to me whenever I did well. It's something that is very rare when you come across top players, especially when they're not on the women's side, maybe on the men's side. I don't know, I just felt things he would do, he went out of his way.
I remember at one point he said congratulations to me the year I went to the finals of the French Open. I kind of did a double take because I couldn't believe he was speaking to me.
Actually, I don't think I posted the picture, but this we traded pins at the Olympics, which is the one thing I wanted to do. He was super nice with that. We were both waiting on the shuttle. It was the last shuttle of the day, like 11 p.m. I asked him if I could have one of his pins. He gave me one. Carlos was there, too, but Carlos didn't have any pins. I only took the picture with Rafa there. I was like, Carlos, you can't be in it because you didn't give me a pin.
Yeah, just something like that I'll remember. And something I'll definitely tell my kids because it meant a lot to me.
Q. When a player like this leaves the sport, we often talk about legacy and the importance of it. What do you make of it? I know you're super young and just starting, but what do you want your own legacy to be?
COCO GAUFF: I think basically everything I described in him of how he was off the court. It's one thing to have the on-court achievements, but I think how you treat people off the court, how you treat people, fans.
Obviously, I'm a fan of him. I know we're technically like coworkers, but I'm a fan. I'm a fan of him. How he treated me as a fan is something I remember more than his wins, more than the thing he did. I would like my legacy to look like that.
You can win the amount of trophies and everything, but people remember who you are and how you made them feel. That's how I try to remind myself when I'm doing fan interactions or with anybody, to leave a nice impression because I know how that goes a long way.
Q. I noticed yesterday you talked about you wanted to have a taste of local culture whenever you visit. Did you have a chance to go around Wuhan? If not, any places special you want to go?
COCO GAUFF: Actually yesterday we went to the mall at Joy City. We went to one of the Chinese restaurants. I don't know the name. We kind of picked one because we didn't understand how to read the sign (smiling).
Yeah, I had, like, garlic chicken. I think it was Hainanese Chinese food. I think there's different regions. My mom had shrimp. I had rice. I tried some of the tea which is like the rose long tea, which is a Chinese traditional tea.
Yeah, we had like the chicken wings. Their chicken wings are really good. My chicken was also good. It was spicy. I wasn't expecting it to be spicy, and I like spice. I did finish it, but it took me a couple rounds of water and everything to finish it.
That was the one thing we said we hadn't done. We had traditional Chinese at the site, but I think it's much different when you go to a restaurant and eat it. Yeah, that was one thing we wanted to check off of our list and we did that.
If we have time today, we'll maybe go to another one and get something different.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports