Gauff sets sights on Paris after achieving success on Italian clay

Cori Gauff

American sensation tennis star Coco Gauff is brimming with confidence ahead of  French Open, based on her recent performance in recently concluded Italian clay where 17 year old climbed 10 places to a career-best 25th in the rankings.

Coco Gauff

Also in the past month, American reached her first WTA 1000 semifinal in Rome and followed it up with her maiden title on clay the week after in Parma.

“I feel really good about going into the French,” Gauff told reporters after her second career WTA title. “I hope I can continue to build and keep getting better.

“I feel like I’m hitting good, moving good, my body feels good, my mentality and emotionally I feel good. So I think it will be a good tournament for me.”

In the upcoming French Open, she will be the youngest player at a major in 15 years since Nicole Vaidisova who took part in the Wimbledon Championship in 2006.

The American young sensation won the doubles title with  Caty McNally on Parma’s clay courts in achieving this feat to become the youngest player to complete the sweep in 17 years and the last time the youngest player who won the doubles title was Maria Sharapova who won the titles in Birmingham in 2004.

“It’s not a surface that people associate me with, so it feels good,” added Gauff, the 2018 junior Roland Garros winner. “I like the dirt now. I always talk about how I don’t like it, but I like it now.“Clay shows you a little extra love than the other surfaces do. It’s just going home, taking a shower, and I have clay coming out of me from all different places, or clay still in my clothes from weeks later.”