Gauff's 'extremely poor' performance ruffles feathers: Clement speaks up

ATP
Wednesday, 24 January 2024 at 09:15
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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.”

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