Coco Gauff got off to a flying start at the 2026 Australian Open, and after her dominant first-round victory, she revealed the mental change she made to reduce the gap in her head-to-head against Iga Swiatek. Gauff lost all of her first seven meetings with the former World No. 1 Pole. However, the 21-year-old American has won all four of her most recent clashes against Swiatek, with their head-to-head currently at 11-5 in the Pole’s favor.
Following her 6-2, 6-3 first-round win over Kamilla Rakhimova in Melbourne, the two-time singles Major champion attended a post-match press conference. Here, she recalled how important her first competitive victory against Swiatek (2023 Cincinnati Open semifinal) was in terms of helping her get over the ‘mental deficit’ that left her devoid of confidence in previous matches against the Pole. Up until their Cincinnati clash in 2023, Gauff hadn’t even taken a set off of Swiatek. The World No. 3 said:
“There was no other head-to-head I felt really bad about except for that one. In the past I used to think about it so much because you just want to get the one win. Once I got that I kind of erased the other matches.. obviously she’s a great player and she deserved those wins. But I felt like some of those losses, I won’t say a lot, because she just outplayed me, but some of them at least in the beginning it was already in the mental deficit.”
Going on to explain how the 2023 Cincinnati win helped her play much more freely in the matches she’s played against Swiatek since then, Gauff added:
“Once I erased that mental deficit I was able to play free. There was like no other head-to-head in tennis where I had that so it was very difficult to navigate. Now I feel like I’m able to play free. Obviously it’s still a big gap in the head to head. But I just erase it from my mind. Can’t change the past. I learn from it. I’ll know how it’ll end by the end of our careers. But at least I know the future matches I won’t see starting like that, with a mental deficit.”
Coco Gauff Could Face Iga Swiatek For 17th Time At Australian Open 2026
Gauff and Swiatek, the No. 3 and 2 seeds respectively at the 2026 Australian Open, are going to lock horns for their 17th competitive encounter at this year’s edition of the Melbourne Major provided both of them reach the women’s singles final.
Swiatek had a much tougher time than Gauff in her first-round outing against qualifier Yuan Yue from China. The Pole, despite winning the match in straight sets, struggled with her serve and made committed more than 30 unforced errors.
Gauff and Swiatek will face Olga Danilovic and Marie Bouzkova respectively in the second round.
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