"You can look at defending points in one of two ways": Monica Puig advises Coco Gauff ahead of title defense at US Open

Former world number 27 Monica Puig has urged America’s young tennis star Coco Gauff not to think about defending rating points at the US Open after recent setbacks. The 20-year-old is already regarded as one of the best women’s tennis players in the singles category.

Gauff is going through a bit of a lean patch. She recently participated in the Cincinnati Open, where she was knocked out of the competition after losing to Yulia Putintseva of Kazakhstan in the round of 32 with a score of 6-4, 2-6, 6-4. Before that, Gauff’s journey in the Canadian Open lost in the round of 16 to Russia’s Diana Shnaider in straight sets with a score of 6-4, 6-1.

Before coming to the Canadian Open, Gauff participated in the Paris Olympics in three different categories: singles, doubles and mixed doubles. However, she failed to win a medal in any of those categories. The Atlanta-born will be defending her crown this year at the Flashing Meadows. She lifted the title last year after beating Aryna Sabalenka in the final with a score of 2–6, 6–3, 6–2.

Puig was recently quoted in a report where she advised Gauff not to think about defending rating points at the US Open this year. The 30-year-old was of the opinion that the current world number two player might be struggling after having to defend three back-to-back titles for the first time in her career.

“You can look at defending points in one of two ways,” she said. “I was probably on the 'not as a great' side mentality when it came to defending points. I always thought I had to win the title or get to the final to stay where I was. You have the other scenario where you start the year from zero, and every tournament is just an opportunity to gain points. For Coco, this is the first time she's defending three really big titles back-to-back, and maybe that's affecting her. This is something that she has to deal with. I'm glad she's learning these lessons now rather than later. Hopefully, she can take all the positives from this moment and move past it."