'Stay true to yourself': Coco Gauff provides advice to wildcard French Open semi finalist Lois Boisson

World no. 2 Coco Gauff has heaped praise on her semi final opponent after defeating the French wildcard Lois Boisson 6-1, 6-2, to reach the semi final at Roland Garros. Coming in to the French Open as a wildcard, Boisson has enjoyed a fairytale raid to the semi finals where she ultimately crashed out against a dominant Gauff. After reaching her Second French Open final when she took down Boisson on the 5th of June, Gauff has provided some crucial advice for the French up and comer going forward to the next couple of months.

Gauff, who is already incredibly experienced for just 21 years old had her first Grand Slam experience at just 15 years old when she reached the Fourth round of Wimbledon in 2019 before ultimately losing out to eventual Champion Simona Halep 6-3, 6-3. The now World no. Two ranked player would then win her first Grand Slam title in 2023 at the US Open against Aryna Sabalenka 2-6, 6-3, 6-2.

After the semi final bout Gauff was asked if she had any advice for the French newcomer Boisson to which she responded "Yeah, I think her position is especially harder because I think in the French there's not a lot of players that have made this result in the recent years. So I think the whole country is going to be looking at everything".

Gauff would further go on to explain more about what Boisson needs to do moving forward "I guess my biggest advice is just to stay true to yourself and the things that people, you know, keep your people around you, what they expect from you, not what media expects from you or other outside analysts expect for you”.

Later on when asked about the chances of Boisson being able to handle the pressure, Gauff responded positively by suggesting "Yeah, I think that's my only advice. I don't know her too well, but you know, the fact that she's had such a great run and even with all the media attention that happened so fast, obviously I think she has her head on her right shoulders".

“So, yeah, it's going to be probably a weird few months for her, but I think the more it happens, the more you get used to it".

Going into the final on Saturday the 7th of June, it will be intriguing to see how the talented American performs as Gauff looks to avenge her loss in the 2022 final, with this time her taking home the French Open title at Roland Garros. Facing off against Aryna Sabalenka the World no. One, Gauff will want to show why she is ready to become the face of the WTA for years to come.

As for Boisson it really is just a case of taking time to adjust to life as a now Grand Slam semi finalist, looking forward to more events where the newcomer can once again show her class. The 22 year old is set to shoot up over 300 places in the WTA rankings so it will be exciting to see her progress over these next few years.