Gauff admits fatigue after shocking loss to Shnaider at Canadian Open

Coco Gauff admitted feeling fatigued after her Round of 16 defeat at the Canadian Open to Diana Shnaider. The World No. 2 was in Paris 2024 last week, participating in the singles, women’s doubles, and mixed doubles draws, playing seven matches in five days.

The American was one of the favourites to win a medal in both singles and doubles but suffered disappointing losses that left her empty-handed. Despite the heavy physical load, also considering the surface changes, Gauff still travelled to Toronto to avoid missing the tournament.

Several of the top players who were in Paris decided to skip the Canadian Open to take a break after playing on Roland Garros’ clay courts, including Iga Swiatek, Zheng Qinwen, Jasmine Paolini, and Barbora Krejcikova. However, Gauff quickly travelled to Toronto to start the hardcourt swing.

The American is in a delicate moment of the season, considering that she failed to defend her title at the WTA 500 DC Open and has to defend her title at the WTA 1000 Cincinnati Open the following week. Moreover, there are only three weeks left until the US Open, where she is also the defending champion.

At the Canadian Open, she was the top favourite but suffered a surprising defeat to 14th seed Diana Shnaider 4-6, 1-6. The Russian had recently won the silver medal in women’s doubles at the Olympic Games alongside Mirra Andreeva.

“Sometimes I question whether I should have played or not,” Gauff said after her elimination from the event. “But at the end of the day, I wanted to test myself and see if I would be able to, how I would do being mentally tired a little bit and physically fatigued. I said going into the tournament I didn’t have high expectations, but I wish I could have competed better today, even if it resulted in a loss. I don’t think I competed well.”

The American reflected on her experience in Paris 2024 and her thoughts after leaving the tournament without winning any medals, despite being one of the big favourites: “When you have success young, I think people, especially like fans of the sport, tend to forget you’re still developing,” Gauff told the WTA website.

“A lot of times when you look at reasons why some younger girls maybe don’t do as well as they get older, it’s more mental than anything. Overall, I’m just trying to put that in perspective, and honestly, the Olympics was a great learning experience for me.”

“Sometimes when you do well young, you just, you want everything to happen now. A lot of them are 24, between the 24 to 27 range, so I guess it puts it into perspective sometimes. I think I just learned to trust in my training and the journey, just talking with them and learning about their stories,” she added. “All of them at some point did well young, just because they’re so good. Your game is going to reach its final form in a few years. I’m 20, so hopefully by like 24, I’m there.”