Coco Gauff initially was distraught after losing out in the semi-finals of the Australian Open to Aryna Sabalenka with a 7-6(2), 6-4 win for the eventual champion. But she took a few days off to regroup and admitted this helped.
Gauff who lost early on to Katerina Siniakova at the Qatar Open said that she too a few days with her boyfriend who came to town and this also gave her the motivation to get back on the practice court after recharging the batteries and now she feels refreshed after that.
She will now move onto Dubai next week aiming to rewrite some wrongs again after defeat to Siniakova in even more crushing fashion in one of her worst losses in some time. So perhaps she hasn't benefited from that time away just yet. Albeit as Gauff showed by winning in Auckland at the turn of the year, the form that saw her win the US Open is very much still there and heading towards Indian Wells and Miami, she will hope to bring that out.
"I would say that the first night I was like still thinking about the things that went on in that match. You know, I felt like it was decided by a couple of points," Gauff admitted in an interview for Sky Sports at the 2024 Qatar Open.
"And then after that, I flew home, and then what did I do? Oh, I took off like four days; four-five days. My boyfriend came in town so I hung out with him," she continued.
"And then I was really happy to get back on the practice court. I felt good to just be at home. We’ve built a court in my house so practicing is always very easygoing than at tournaments. Ya, I feel really refreshed."