"Vulnerability is OK, and the best athletes in the world have vulnerable times" - Coco Gauff vows to be herself as she explains emotional struggles on court

Coco Gauff has had an up and down 2025 campaign, reaching unassailable heights but falling to profound lows throughout. It has been a challenge, where she has shown different sides to herself. This includes her vulnerable side, which she does not mind expressing.

She did not reach her absolute best until the clay swing, where she produced a scintillating run of form. This included making the final of the WTA 1000 events in Madrid and Rome. While she would go on to lose those matches against Aryna Sabalenka and home-favourite Jasmine Paolini, she got the last laugh after winning her second Grand Slam at Roland Garros, defeating Sabalenka in the final.

This was a good as it would get for the young American, who would go into a period of turmoil on the court. Her serve was a huge talking point, left extremely vulnerable when she was not racking up her double faults tally. Gauff showed immense resilience, and came through it with a massive title on the Asian swing. She got the better of fellow American Jessica Pegula to win the Wuhan Open.

When speaking to WWD, Gauff was delighted to end her season on a positive note. “I started off great and didn’t do so well between the American and Middle East swing — and obviously did super well in the clay season and was able to finish the year off strong,” Gauff said.

After a terrible grass swing, the North American hardcourt swing was not going the way Gauff was hoping for. She was dumped out earlier than usual in the Canadian Open and Cincinnati Open ahead of a fourth round appearance at the US Open. She battled her way through some close encounters, earning the respect of fans who could see her desperate struggles. She eventually succumbed to defeat against four-time Grand Slam champion Naomi Osaka. Enroute, she was feeling the stress and pain of not playing her best. Instead of hiding it, she unveiled how she was actually feeling on court.

“Earlier in my career, I felt I had to be perfect because I could feel the weight of people looking up to me," Gauff stated. "But then I found that with my own idols and people I looked up to, it was the moments they were vulnerable that made me feel seen. I don’t have to show up perfect all the time. For me, I just try to show up in all environments as myself."

She picked out her second round victory against Donna Vekic at Flushing Meadows as a prime example. "For instance, at the US Open this year, I was crying to get through the match, and I ended up winning."

"Vulnerability is OK, and the best athletes in the world have vulnerable times," she continued. "That’s not something you should dim. It’s something that you should show light to. No one’s life is up all the time. It’s all about how you respond in down moments.”

The world number three is normally somewhere near the limelight, mainly due to her impressive but preliminary stages of her tennis career. As well as that, she has become a very popular character off the court. She has amassed a huge following on her social media pages, but has admitted that TikTok is her favourite. “There’s no strategy. I just post when I feel like it. TikTok is my favourite. People are way nicer there because it’s a much younger audience. Instagram, not so much.

The sad reality for this - hateful and negative messages. "We get a lot of bettors in our sport, so they’ll get a little bit mean. I try to read a lot of DMs on Instagram because they’re mainly supportive. Sometimes people want a video for their friend or daughter, so I’ll look out for those messages.”