Coco Gauff uses 'pettiness' of fan criticism to deal with high expectations, claps back after reaction to Krejcikova loss

Coco Gauff was defeated by Wimbledon champion Barbora Krejcikova on Thursday afternoon in her third and final Round Robin match. She dealt with criticism surrounding it and revealed how she channels it.

Gauff spoke afterwards and said she uses pettiness from fans and high expectations as fuel to the fire and that previously it weighed her down but now it is very much the opposite.

But it is all down to mindset for Gauff and altering that in order to reach her best and not using it to weigh her down. She saw off Jessica Pegula 6-3, 6-2 and then against Iga Swiatek 6-3, 6-4. However against Krejcikova, she was poor when it came to break point opportunities. She converted one of 12 break point chances whereas the Czech ace had four of them and converted three.

"I think it's just training your mind to think these things, whether it's how the person intended it, probably not. But if you trick your mind, it's crazy how your daily mindset and your thoughts and your decisions, it can change. I use it as motivation. And before I used it as pressure and I thought, you know, the expectations are always going to be there for me," said Gauff.

"I turned it into something, because people expect so much from you, so that means people see potential in you, so you should see potential in yourself. I don't win all the time, but, especially today, I got a lot of comments about how I lost badly. I think I honestly just like the idea of ​​proving people wrong and letting your racket do the talking. I think, for me, I think honestly, pettiness and I think that's really the answer. I think I just like being, like, saying I'm right and stuff, and obviously it doesn't work," she explained.