"No one looks at her like some impossible goal": Gauff on how dominance of Swiatek isn't unbreakable

Iga Swiatek has been a stumbling block in Coco Gauff's career ever since the latter made her WTA tour debut. Swiatek has defeated Gauff in all six meetings between the pair to date.

The pair have faced each in various stages of tournaments over the last three years, from the first round to the finals. They first locked horns in the semifinals of the Italian Open in 2021, where Swiatek emerged victorious 7-6 (3), 6-3.

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They faced each other four times last year, most notably in the title clash at Roland Garros. Gauff failed to pick up a single win against the Pole. Most recently, Swiatek beat the American teenager at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships last month.

Speaking at a press conference ahead of her BNP Paribas Open Indian Wells campaign in Indian Wells, Gauff stated that while Swiatek has achieved a lot in recent months, she doesn't see the World No. 1 as an unbeatable player.

Obviously she [Iga Swiatek] is doing really well but no one looks at her like some impossible goal. I mean, she's just a tennis player. I am not trying to downplay her achievements, she's beaten me a lot of times," she said.

Gauff hoped to see herself dominating at the same level of Swiatek one day.

"But I feel like you can't look at the game that way," she added. "This is a person that's excelling at the level right now, but you can't look at it I guess in a far way because you want that to be you one day," she said.

Gauff also said that while Swiatek deserves all the plaudits, she refused to put the Pole on a pedestal.

"She's one of those players that you kinda have to learn from but also I guess not put too high on a pedestal because that's going to be your opponent at the end of the day. So I think it's like a catch-22 there," she stated.

The American likened the situation to playing against Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic on the men's tour.

"That's like now with a lot of the guys, with the Big 3, Rafa and Novak," she added. "I think it's kinda the same way where the guys have to put them on that pedestal but when they play them, you can't think about everything that they have done on the court," Gauff added.