Coco Gauff Press Conference | Australian Open 2024 Third Round

Coco Gauff’s press conference following her win against Alycia Parks in the third round of the Australian Open 2024.

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Welcome to the official Australian Open TV YouTube channel. The Australian Open 2024 main draw runs from 14-28 January in Melbourne. The tournament takes place for the 112th time and is the first Grand Slam of the year. Novak Djokovic is the men’s singles reigning champion and Aryna Sabalenka is the women’s singles reigning champion. The tournament takes place on 25 hard courts, including Rod Laver Arena, Margaret Court Arena and John Cain Arena. Look out for highlights, press conferences, memorable moments and much more!

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Okay we will go ahead and get started and coko I know you had a few words you wanted to say before we start with questions yeah I just wanted to start off this press conference uh sending my condolences to Mike Dixon and his family

Um and I know for you guys it was a huge loss in The Press Room and um you know life is really precious and I mean I couldn’t imagine uh what you guys and you know his family is going through uh I’ve had a couple conversations with him

In the past and I know he’s been promoting the sport tennis for a long time so it’s a huge loss amongst you guys and the players and I I hope that you know his family can rest in peacefully and yeah thank you thank you Coco okay we’ll start with questions please

Yes I want to say congratulations to your Victory Coco and then I would like to ask what song did you listen to when you enter the arena today and what songs and what artists do you usually like to listen to before a match and what you

Want that music to do for you in in the moment yeah before I listen uh before I go on court I listen to Icon by Jaden Smith and I try to listen to some Pump Up rap music to kind of get my energy up sometimes I’m a little bit nervous um

Before matches but which I haven’t been the last two rounds but a music has always been a way to calm my nerves or you know get my energy up if I’m feeling a little tired or calm my energy down so yeah courney win thanks for what you said um

In terms of today’s match um how did you kind of go into the match what was the game plan and uh yeah how did you kind of see it kind of play out as you were playing it yeah I mean the game plan was well just to you know on her serve just

Make returns she has a big serve and she goes for every single serve which is something that I really respect and she has a big game and I think you know since she keeps working she’s going to be at the top of the game too um yeah

And it wasn’t really like a huge game plan like I’ve never hit with her so it’s it was tough to kind of you know put something into action I was really just trying to do what I do against everybody else keep the ball deep open

Up the court um and try to move her as much as I could um I don’t think she played her best tennis today uh but you know I know when she’s at her best she’s a tough player to play the you’re playing somebody who hadn’t been in that spot before was that

In your head and as you were sort of preparing for the match knowing that there might be some Jitters on her part and that and that it might sort of play to your advantage um not really because I feel like Alicia she has a lot of Go

Big goals for herself and I think she expects a lot from herself just knowing her and knowing her for a long time so I don’t know if she was nervous or not today I don’t think she was it was not something I was thinking about before

The match but I just know her as a person that she’s similar mindset to me has a lot of big goals and expects a lot from herself so I felt like she wouldn’t have been nervous in the moment I don’t I don’t even think she was I think it

Just you know today just wasn’t her day um but yeah it wasn’t in my mindset before the match curious your younger brother good is a great catcher uh young Prospect and catching you know you call pitches signs things like that mix it up I’m curious if you guys ever talk because there is

From a returning and a service standpoint a little bit of kind of similar patterns or at least intentions of what’s going on with a pitcher and a and a catcher like do you guys ever talk about it or exchange notes and yeah yeah I think the biggest thing I talk about

With Cody not necessarily like the aspects of the sport but more so the mentality of the sport he’s someone like he’s someone that I think puts his competitors on too much of a pedestal or he used to and I think it’s like a fine line of showing respect to

Your opponents and you know still putting them on the but also like believing that you can do it so one of and my dad has the opposite mentality where he’ll just disrespect people um so I think I have the the balance of you know knowing like yeah she’s great she’s

Good at what she does but also like I can beat her um so I think that was one thing I spoke to him about and also just being a leader on the field the pitcher and a catcher probably have the most leading roles in baseball um and

Sometimes the catcher often times is the most leadership role when you have to notice when you’re pictures off and when the call time and all of that so I think um that’s something I did speak to him about like be more of a leader on the

Field um you know tennis is that sport where you you have to lead yourself not other people um so it’s not as easy when you’re not you know somebody who um is as social as easily to lead a whole team but he’s done a lot better the last

Couple months and um I think it just makes a difference cuz I try tell him like the little differences the little things matter um so much much more especially in tennis and in baseball question when you are pitching or not pitching suring yeah do you ever think about it in baseball terms fastball

Curveball off speed placement all that sort of stuff yeah honestly like in a way yeah there’s like yeah you can go te but it may not be a flat tea it could be like as you know slider t or wide so yeah in a way it’s about like cuz I

Don’t want to you know go mock 20 every serve like yes can be great but girls are going to get a rhythm so it’s all about mixing up the paces and um at times I do think of it as like a catcher would because the catcher is usually the

One that calls the signals and you have to kind of notice you know you have to know the returner as well as like the catcher needs to know their batter and luckily tennis we only have to focus on one person at a time they have to know a

Whole lineup um so it’s a little bit easier for us but in a way yeah I do think of it like that what do you know now about getting across the Finish Line in a in a slam and going into at this point you know going into the second week that you

Didn’t know in September um have fun and relax I think you know as you get later the trophy obviously gets closer and closer and you have to treat it that it’s as far as away as it is if you’re in the first round and that’s what I came approached

That final I didn’t approach it as I just need to win two sets and then I have it I approached it as I need to win seven matches again and then I’ll get it so yeah um and it was actually something my brother told me which is crazy um he

Was like yeah Cody uh he told me like you know pretend that you have to win three sets instead of two so if you put your mindset into that extra mile then you know it it seems easier I guess in a way so he

Would say okay if you want to win um the Grand Slam say you have to win eight matches instead of seven so it’s like changing your mindset so it feels further and he said that like to me like a maybe like a year ago um but always

Stuck with me about that because it’s like you know I think at French Open I felt like it was so close and I just got so tight and then US Open it just felt so far away from the very first point of the match literally until match point

Was over cuz I you know even though I had one more game to win I was telling myself okay you have a whole another set to win or not set but like you know a whole another set to win before you can get this Trophy and I think just

Tricking your mind kind of relaxes the body because your mind controls your body so you have to just trick your mind a little bit um obviously so you know what’s real but you know you have to trick it a little bit to I don’t know everybody has their twerks and that

Makes them feel better that made me feel better question thanks E