Can Coco Gauff hit the Nitro button with a Cincinnati-US Open double?

CINCINNATI, Ohio—Coco Gauff’s whirlwind summer continued at the Cincinnati Open on Thursday, the reigning Roland Garros champion hitting the grounds less than 24 hours after winning the Omnium Banque Nationale doubles title in Montréal.

“I got here at 12:30 and went straight to press,” admitted Gauff, who paired fellow American McCartney Kessler to capture her first doubles trophy in over a year.

“I think I left site around 5:30 and we were on a flight at 8,” she added later. “I’m lucky that, for me, financially as a player, I’m able to do that and get a plane. It’s not common for all the other players that they’re able to do that. That’s why it is tough with the scheduling because there’s no direct flight from Montréal. Well, there’s one, but it’s at 6PM each day, but when you’re playing at 3PM, you’re not making a 6PM flight!”

Gauff is in the thick of the first attempt at overlapping WTA 1000 tournaments; while two-week events have become the norm across the board, the pre-US Open line-up is unique in its Canada finals playing out on the same day the Cincinnati tournament is set to begin.

“I didn’t do that well in Montréal as far as singles, so I don’t feel tired or anything,” said Gauff, who lost to finalist Victoria Mboko in the round of 16. “I’m curious how the players who did well in Montréal do here, just because it is overlapping tournaments. If I had to put input, I would say that overlapping is just tough for all players involved, even on the doubles aspect. Even though I won Montréal [doubles], I’m thinking, ‘Should I play [next year] or not?’ just because I pushed really hard for that final to be on Wednesday and I’m really grateful that the tournament granted that, but that doesn’t mean it’s always going to happen.

“It’s an interesting topic with the overlapping tournaments. I think two-week tournaments are tough. I don’t mind them as much but it is tougher when they do overlap because of the conditions. I haven’t practiced yet, but I know from the past that the conditions are quite different.”

For the American, it’s been a tight squeeze that dates back to her triumphant run in Paris. The 21-year-old made a quick trip home in between a stateside media blitz only to head back across the pond to prepare for Wimbledon. The turnaround proved too much and Gauff went 0-2 on grass, losing at the All England Club in the first round.

I’m someone who does things full-throttle, so I was very disappointed after [Wimbledon]. “I was telling my parents, ‘Tennis is sometimes tough because you can have such a high moment and then two weeks later, feel so low.’ Coco Gauff

“I’m someone who does things full-throttle, so I was very disappointed afterwards,” Gauff told me during her Media Day press conference. “I was telling my parents, ‘Tennis is sometimes tough because you can have such a high moment and then two weeks later, feel so low.’”

Where many top players had less than two weeks to gear back up for the US Open swing, the early SW19 exit ironically afforded Gauff extra time to recharge for what she deems the most important part of the season.

“I turned my phone off and went three days to the Florida springs and just connected with nature and things like that to reset,” she said.

“For me, it feels kind of like when you play the little race car game and you have the Nitro button to push. That’s what it feels like. You just want to give it your all for this time of the year. It’s not necessarily because I’m an American, although obviously playing for the biggest spot in our sport in the country. It’s also the final Slam of the year and the final few big moments. We obviously have the Asian Swing and things like that but on a serious level, everyone’s attention is on the US Open. It feels like I’m pushing that Nitro button and just leaving it all out there.

“This is the part of the season where I would, not kill myself because I’ve done well after US Open, as well, but you’re just on the court thinking, ‘I want to give it literally everything.’ If this is a tournament I have to kill myself to win, I’ll do it.”

Gauff took heart from having already won the US Open title—“Regardless of how my career goes, I can say I won at home”—and the former champion sees Cincinnati as an ideal launch pad to regain the form that has already won her two Grand Slam titles.

“It gave me the belief that I could win a Slam,” she said of her 2023 title run.” Little did I know that that would be shortly after. I didn’t think so when I did win it. I just thought it would happen eventually, but I was searching for a big title. I was 19, and I’d been on tour for a long time and people had those expectations.

“So, for me, it meant a lot, and obviously the way that I did it, beating Iga, who I’d never beaten before, and then Muchova, who was playing great tennis. I just felt like that was a great statement tournament that led me to believe that I could beat top players.”

Sometimes I do have to be reminded of my age because I do want so much to happen like, now, now, now. But then I look at some of my competitors and see the success that they’re having, not even late in their careers because they’re still very much in the prime of their careers, but just a lot later than where I am right now. So, I try to get reminded of that, but also I would love to do as much as possible, as soon as possible. Coco Gauff

That balance of perspective and impatience defines Gauff’s ethos this summer, at once aware of all she’s achieved on the court but revving her engines to earn even more.

“I feel like I’ve grown a lot, but in also in some ways, I’m still the same. It feels like a long time and sometimes I do have to be reminded of my age because I do want so much to happen like, now, now, now. But then I look at some of my competitors and see the success that they’re having, not even late in their careers because they’re still very much in the prime of their careers, but just a lot later than where I am right now. So, I try to get reminded of that, but also I would love to do as much as possible, as soon as possible.”

Watch Gauff’s opening-round match LIVE on the TC App!