Key Takeaways
- Coco Gauff’s on‑court composure has been tested by off‑court pressures and a deliberate overhaul of her serve and forehand.
- She now relies on therapy, journaling, and a focus on the process rather than perfection to curb frustration.
- Recent incidents—hitting herself with her racket at the Italian Open and smashing it after the Australian Open quarterfinal—highlight her ongoing emotional battles.
- Fellow athletes such as Naomi Osaka, Novak Djokovic, and Aryna Sabalenka illustrate varied tactics for handling anger, from quiet self‑talk to breath‑control mantras.
- Sabalenka’s “Don’t fight it. Don’t feed it.” approach has helped her stay competitive without self‑destructive outbursts.
- Gauff’s recent matches show progress: she turned frustration into productive cues (fist‑pumping after errors) and avoided spiraling despite losing leads.
- Successfully defending her French Open title will hinge on how consistently she can apply these emotional‑regulation tools under pressure.
Coco Gauff entered the 2026 French Open as the defending champion and the sport’s highest‑earning female athlete, yet her recent months have been anything but smooth. After a quarterfinal loss to Elina Svitolina at the Australian Open—where she smashed her racket in a hidden hallway—Gauff acknowledged that off‑court difficulties have made staying present on the court harder. She has been working to remake two of her most important weapons, her serve and forehand, a technical overhaul that has occasionally shaken her confidence. Despite these challenges, Gauff has reached two WTA‑1000 finals since January, losing each in three hard‑fought sets, a testament to her resilience even when her emotions threaten to boil over.
To manage the inevitable frustration that accompanies tennis, Gauff has adopted a more deliberate routine. She speaks regularly with a therapist she has seen for years and journals to externalize thoughts that might otherwise fester during matches. Rather than insisting on perfection on every point, she now emphasizes “the process”—the ebb and flow of a match—allowing herself to accept mistakes without letting them trigger a downward shift. This mindset shift was evident after her first‑round win over fellow American Taylor Townsend, when she admitted she had entertained thoughts of losing but deliberately blocked them from taking hold, a habit she said she would have succumbed to in the past.
The racket‑related incidents that have dotted Gauff’s recent schedule illustrate how tightly her emotions are linked to her physical actions. At the Italian Open final, she unintentionally struck herself on the head with her racket while wearing large braids, remarking that the impact didn’t hurt but underscoring a moment of lost focus. A few weeks earlier, after her Australian Open quarterfinal loss to Svitolina, she retreated beneath the stadium and smashed her racket to pieces, believing she was out of sight. The episode prompted tournament officials to reconsider how behind‑the‑scenes footage is used, knowing that such raw moments are irresistible to fans but can also expose players’ vulnerabilities.
Gauff is not alone in grappling with on‑court temper. Naomi Osaka, a four‑time Grand Slam champion, confessed in Paris that she still curses quietly during matches to avoid fines, highlighting how even elite players channel frustration internally. Novak Djokovic, often cited as a master of turning anger into fuel, demonstrates that a controlled eruption can reset focus. Aryna Sabalenka, the current world No. 1, offered a more instructive parallel. After realizing that her visible irritation was telegraphing impending collapse to opponents, she worked with mindset coach Jason Savita on a six‑word mantra: “Don’t fight it. Don’t feed it.” By breathing through anger rather than suppressing or amplifying it, Sabalenka has curtailed self‑destructive outbursts while maintaining a high level of play—a strategy she describes as a win‑win for both mental composure and performance.
Gauff’s own experimentation with similar techniques has begun to bear fruit. In her Italian Open quarterfinal against Mirra Andreeva, after losing a set and seeing her lead evaporate, she initially reacted with passive play. However, when Andreeva saved several match points, Gauff responded by pumping her fist after her own errors, a deliberate reminder that she could lose points yet still be competing at a high level. This new habit carried over into the final against Svitolina, where she again hit herself with the racket and tossed it in frustration after losing the first set, but she avoided the full‑blown meltdown that had plagued her earlier in the season. Reflecting on the tournament, Gauff noted that she had experienced every conceivable scenario—leading, trailing, saving match points—and expressed hope that each episode would serve as a learning tool for her Roland Garros defense.
Looking ahead, the true test for Gauff will be how consistently she can apply these emotional‑regulation tools under the heightened pressure of defending a Grand Slam title. Her ability to stay anchored in the process, to use therapist‑guided reflection and journaling to keep negativity at bay, and to convert frustration into productive cues—rather than letting it dictate her shot selection—will likely determine whether she can add a second French Open crown to her résumé. If she succeeds, it will not only add to her trophy case but also reinforce a broader lesson for the sport: elite performance is as much about mastering the inner game as it is about perfecting the forehand or serve.