She has hobbies that she can pick and choose from, including crochet and French lessons. She said she might pop into London’s West End on Wednesday night to see a show.
When you’ve got so much free time these days, like Coco Gauff, you’ve got to do something to fill the time.
Gauff, the No. 2 seed at Wimbledon, won her second-round match against Romanian qualifier Anka Todoni 6-2, 6-1 in 1 hour and 6 minutes on Wednesday. That set up a third-round clash with Britain’s Sonai Kartal, which attracted many eyes at the All England club.
The quick streak continues this year for the 20-year-old American, which is the opposite of last year’s Grand Slams first-round matches. In the year In 2023, Gauff often spends tight doubles or grinds her teeth on three-set doozies. She had to win four straight matches to win the US Open title.
This year, Gauff cruised through the first week of the Australian Open and French Open, making three straight matches in the quarterfinals of each tournament before losing in the semifinals.
“I’m just trying to take care of business and clean up and keep these matches from going to three sets,” Gauff said of her first-round success.
After winning the US Open, she credited her newfound accuracy for boosting her confidence. Gauff said her title win in New York was not her best tennis, giving her more confidence as she looks ahead to this year’s Grand Slam draws.
Being supported in her fierce tennis also helped her feel comfortable. This serves her well on Wimbledon’s grass courts, where the fast surface makes it difficult to score defensively.
“You want to be the first person to hit,” Gauff said.
She dominated Todoni from start to finish, hitting her serve and winning 85 percent of her first serve points.
“I’m going for it more and I’m going to admit mistakes,” Gauff said. “Today I had a very low first serve percentage in the first set, and maybe it will be higher in the second.” She hit 38 percent of first serves in the first set, 53 percent in the second.
The win keeps Gauff in good shape with a fairly wide open women’s draw. Top-ranked Iga Sviatek will play favorite and unseeded Petra Martic of Croatia in the second round on Thursday, and 2022 Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina remains a threat. She will play Germany’s Laura Sigmund in the second round on Thursday.
But third seed Aryna Sabalenka withdrew Tuesday with a shoulder injury and on the day champion Marketa Vondrosova became the first defending champion to lose in the first round in 30 years, ensuring her seventh consecutive Wimbledon title. Winner of various women.
Gauff noticed that while examining the wall of champions at the practice facility on the grounds of Wimbledon.
“There were a lot of different names, which is something new – not new, but kind of new, after Serena [Williams], after many legends,” Gauff said. “It just goes to show that there’s a lot of talent on the women’s tour and it’s anybody’s game. … My view, I mean, when you see that the field is not stacked, it gives you confidence. I guess it’s stacked in a way where one player dominates or three players dominate. I think everyone has an equal shot, and it’s just who can do better that week.
Four-time Grand Slam champion Naomi Osaka, who returned seven months ago after giving birth a year ago, was another big name to drop on Wednesday. She lost 6-4, 6-1 to 19th-seeded American Emma Navarro on Center Court in 59 minutes.
Osaka looked to be on the offensive from the start, and Navarro was able to take advantage, winning 82 percent of her first serve points. The 23-year-old former NCAA champion from Virginia advanced to the third round in her second Wimbledon match by holding a point against Guti Tennis and playing a clean match – with just five unforced errors.
“Obviously she has a really big serve, so I knew today was going to be something I wanted to handle,” Navarro said of Osaka. “I tried to move my positions from the first serve. I don’t know – maybe that got in her head a bit. I wanted to make her hit a serve she didn’t want to hit, and I didn’t want her to know where I was in terms of positioning.
Navarro won 50 percent of Osaka’s first serve in the second set as she moved to close out the match, sending the former US Open and Australian Open winner home for the first time at Wimbledon since 2019.