Former
world No. 10 Arnaud Clement criticized the "extremely poor" level of
Coco Gauff in her quarterfinal victory at the 2024
Australian Open over Marta
Kostyuk. The former French tennis player commented on the match on Eurosport
and expressed surprise at the low level of play from both competitors.
Kostyuk, a
21-year-old, displayed more aggression throughout the match, tallying 39
winners and committing 56 unforced errors, while Gauff recorded 17 winners and
51 unforced errors. This means that 44% of the points played ended with an
error from one of the players.
The serving
percentages for both players were also low. The Ukrainian achieved a 51%
first-serve percentage and won 54% of those points, compared to Gauff's 54%
first-serve percentage, of which she won 59%. Additionally, 16 of the games
(50%) ended in breaks of serve.
Former
world No. 10 Clement highlighted the unusual aspect of witnessing a
quarterfinal match at a Grand Slam with so many errors: “I rarely commented on
a match of this quality at this stage of the competition,” he said.
“It was
really very surprising. We are not going to put the two players in the same
bag. Kostyuk took a lot of risks, she had success, she made a lot of unforced
errors. Opposite, Coco Gauff did nothing the entire game,” the 2001 Australian
Open finalist assessed.
“She could
have lost this meeting. And just when we tell ourselves that it’s okay, that
she’s back from 1–5 to the first, that she’s going to relax, she tenses up
again. At no time did she manage to free herself. Tennis-wise, it was extremely
poor.
“Frankly, I
have rarely commented on a match of this quality at this stage of the
competition. We will need a very, very big reaction from Coco Gauff in the next
match because if she plays like this, it will be very quick whoever her
opponent is.”