Coco Gauff reveals next plans after lackluster Cincinnati performance and shock exit

Coco Gauff acknowledged she didn’t play well at all against Yulia Putintseva and indicated that she was planning to take a few days off to “reset” after another very disappointing defeat leading up to the US Open.

After a first-round bye, No. 2 seed Gauff started her Cincinnati title defense on Thursday. But it ended as soon as it started after world No. 33 Putintseva stunned the top-ranked American female tennis player 6-4 2-6 6-4.

For Gauff, this was just yet another disappointing defeat that she suffered in the last months. Previously, the 20-year-old picked up three consecutive round-of-16 exits at Wimbledon, the Paris Olympics and last week’s WTA 1000 event in Toronto.

Heading into the US Open – where she will be the defending champion – Gauff is definitely not in the place or form where she would like to be.

“I feel like I have to work on consistency, overall. I’ll probably go home and try to reset. Obviously, I have a lot coming up soon with the US Open, so I think just trying to reset and be ready for that,” Gauff told the WTA Tour.

Against Putintseva, Gauff fired a stunning 50 unforced errors. And having nine unforced errors didn’t help either.

“I made a lot of errors, especially when I was up 4-2 (in the third set). I think most of the points she won were off my errors. She’s always a tricky opponent to play. She mixes up the ball, has drop shots, slices. She’s someone that makes you earn the match,” Gauff noted.

How Gauff collapsed in the third set and what Putintseva said afterward?
In the first set, Gauff twice came back from a break down but her serving woes continued and she dropped her serve again in the ninth game before Putintseva sealed the opener in the following game.

However, the second-seeded American was able to bounce back in the second set after claiming breaks in the fourth and eighth games to easily force a decider.

When the third set started, Gauff made the first move and opened a 4-2 lead. But just when it started looking that the American would definitely complete a comeback, she stunningly lost the next four games and saw her Cincinnati title defense come to an end.

After the match, Putintseva admitted that she also didn’t deliver the prettiest of performances but was happy that she was able to stay there the entire match and ultimately win.

“I think the level of the game was high, especially for those conditions — the courts are lightning fast, so I’m pretty happy to get through. The whole match was a roller coaster. At this point, I was thinking I broke her a couple of times and it was not something special to break someone again. She hit two double faults, and I hit two good returns. She mishit it, the game changed immediately. On these kind of courts, you have to stay really focused, because the game can change quickly,” Putintseva said.

Later, Putintseva was also interviewed on Tennis Channel, where host Prakash Amritraj told her: “You’re not afraid of the big moments. You took out Iga Swiatek at Wimbledon and now Coco Gauff here. When you step into match against a top player, that belief is never an issue for you…”

Responding to Amritraj’s statement, Putintseva decided to tell a little story and reveal how only her parents used to believe that she could make it in tennis.

“Since I was a little kid, only my parents believed in me. They said I was able to do well with my height. Even though I’m smaller than the other ones in the group. My father was like ‘You’re the best. You’re the best. You have to believe you’re the best. Otherwise it’s not gonna work.’ And I was always putting that in my head. That I always have to fight. If I fight and if I’m there every point, I can do it,” Putintseva said.