"I feed from negativity": Gauff uses abusive comments on social media as fuel to perform better

Tuesday, 03 October 2023 at 01:30

America’s young tennis sensation Coco Gauff has revealed that she used negative comments about her performances as a motivation.

The 19-year-old is often termed as one the most highly-rated young women’s tennis players currently playing in the circuit.

Gauff has lived up to the hype in the recently concluded US Open where she won her maiden Grand Slam title after beating the current world number one Belarus’s Aryna Sabalenka in the final with a score of 2–6, 6–3, 6–2.

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Gauff has recently quoted in a report where she stated that one of the reasons of her recent rise is that she started taking negative comments as a source of motivation to perform even better on the court.

“I feel like my brain just works different,” said the current world number three. “I still have the filters on my Instagram. I don’t see anything. I see the comments. I used to not be on Twitter at all. I’m still really not on Twitter much.

“But sometimes you get caught up in the scroll. The way the page is, the accounts that you interact with, you see yourself. Obviously I see about myself, positive & negative and I wouldn’t say negativity is something that’s welcome.

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“It’s more, something that I draw inspiration from. I wouldn’t recommend everybody to do that. Most of the time it’s negative things, but it’s not like life-threatening things. Some of those comments can get out of hand. But for the most part, I don’t know, it’s weird, maybe I feed from negativity.

“That’s weird. A lot of players don’t like it. For me, I’m very stubborn. I like to argue. I like to prove people wrong. My agent & my team advise not to comment back, so I use my racquet to do it.”

Gauff is currently taking part in the China Open where she has already booked her place in the second round after beating Russia’s Ekaterina Alexandrova with a score of 7-5, 6-3.

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The US Open champ is through in Beijing 🤘 @CocoGauff gets past Alexandrova 7-5, 6-3 to advance to Round 2, where Martic awaits! #ChinaOpen

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11:41 AM · Oct 2, 2023

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Azeem Siddiqui

Azeem Siddiqui is a seasoned sports journalist and data analyst with a strong background in both digital media and live sports production.

He began his journalism career working with partners of The New York Times and has since contributed to several leading international sports publications, including Fox Sports Asia, Calciomercato, and GiveMeSport. Since 2023, Azeem has been part of the TennisUpToDate team, where he has played a key role in sustaining the platform’s growth and ensuring tennis fans receive timely and reliable coverage of the sport’s biggest stories.

In addition to his editorial work, Azeem has extensive experience as a data analyst in live sports broadcasting—particularly in cricket—where he combines analytical precision with creative storytelling. He has collaborated with multiple production companies and cricket boards worldwide, delivering real-time insights and data-driven narratives during live match coverage.

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