Coco Gauff gave a detailed description of her relationship with 18-year-old tennis player Iva Jovic in her latest media interaction. The American is currently competing at the Australian Open, which kicked off on January 18 and will finish on February 1 at Melbourne Park.
Gauff is currently preparing herself to secure the Australian Open trophy. She opened the campaign on a strong note, defeating Kamilla Rakhimova in the first round. She further went on to prevail over three more players to reach the quarterfinal round. Her latest outing was against Karolina Muchova on January 25 at the Margaret Court Arena. She dominated the tight contest, securing a 6-1, 3-6, 6-3 win.
Following this victory, the American sat for a press conference, where she fielded questions surrounding the ins and outs of her game against the Czech. During this media session, she also discussed her relationship with Jovic, revealing that the latter is her little brother’s age and they share a strict no-advice relationship. (9:19 onwards)
“She’s the age of my little brother, so yeah, I do feel older than them. Like, that’s for sure. I don’t feel like the exact same, but I don’t feel as old as people make it seem. But no, I’ve talked to Iva a couple times, and yeah, I’ve never talked to her about advice or anything. I feel like she has such a good head on her shoulders, so I don’t think she needs that,” said Coco Gauff.
She added:
“But yeah, I always to make a conscious effort even though I didn’t know her that well, but in Cincinnati, I tried to talk to her, just a conscious effort of talking to the younger players because I remember when I was younger, some players were, I wouldn’t say mean, but it was just standoffish, and it was just a different world than I was used to in junior.
Coco Gauff recently
revealed possible protests at the Australian Open amid the growing unrest among players over prize money.
Coco Gauff Got Honest About Reaching the Second Week of The Australian Open
In the aforementioned media conversation,
Coco Gauff was also asked about the importance of reaching the second week of the Grand Slam. When asked if it is fun or it goes away during this part of the tournament, she revealed that it gets fun as the players get to play ‘great battles,’ which increases the excitement of the game. (0:37 onwards)
“I think No, I think it’s more fun. I feel like with each match, you start to relax a little bit more. So, but also as you keep going, usually the ranking of the opponent gets higher, so the matches should be a bit tougher, which they have been. But I definitely think it’s more fun just because you’re in great battles,” said Coco Gauff.
Talking about her games in Australia, she further added:
“Also just being here in Australia, I think it’s the real opportunity to show, like, where your game is. Yes, we play warm-up tournaments, but you know, Grand Slams is where everyone kind of tries their best to peak at. So, you expect to play the peak version of every player. So, I think it’s just a fun challenge.
Coco Gauff is all set to face Elina Svitolina in the quarterfinal on January 27 at the Rod Laver Arena.
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