Coco Gauff being eliminated at the first hurdle of her bid for a third Grand Slam title was perhaps the biggest shock of a seismic couple of days at Wimbledon.
Entering the tournament off the back of her French Open glory over Aryna Sabalenka, the world No. 2 crashed out of the Slam in a straight set defeat by Ukraine’s Dayana Yastremska.
Gauff suffered a shock defeat to Yastremka in the first-round of WimbledonGettyThe contest lasted just one hour and 19 minutes.
Gauff’s exit marked the eighth player seeded in the top 10 to be eliminated in the first round of this year’s tournament, joining Jessica Pegula, Qinwen Zheng, Paula Badosa, Alexander Zverev, Lorenzo Musetti, Holger Rune, and Daniil Medvedev.
This also marked a record-high number of seeded first round exits for a single grand slam in the Open Era.
Following her shocking defeat to Yastremska 7-6 (7-3), 6-1, the 21-year-old was distraught in her post-match press conference, with tears streaming down her face.
The grass court has been a particular struggle for Gauff in her young career so far, with her only having ever reached the round of 16 at the All England Club, having done so on three occasions in 2019, 2021, and 2024.
Leading into Wimbledon, Gauff played Berlin in her grass court preparation, but suffered a similar fate, getting knocked out in the first round after racking up 25 unforced errors and seven double faults.
After her loss on Tuesday – which made it two defeats from two grass court tournaments – an overwhelmed Gauff opened up on what she would do differently to prepare for the next time.
”I think I would say whether I would play Berlin or not again, if that were to happen with the French Open, just ’cause I only practiced two days,” an emotional Gauff said.
“I don’t know, I just feel like the surface I maybe could have used more matches. It’s like finding the puzzle. I don’t like to play the week before. It’s a quick turnaround, so I think just trying to learn on whether it’s better to train more and maybe play Bad Homburg or Eastbourne.
“I think when that time comes around again or if it comes around again, I’ll approach it differently.”
Gauff has not had much success at Wimbledon in her young careerGetty Gauff became the eighth top-10 seed to bow out in the first round at the 2025 tournamentGettyAs it pertained to technical skills required on the grass, especially against an opponent like Yastremska whose style of play is focused on power and aggressive in her shots, Gauff believes that she needs to address her service game.
“When I can serve well, and some games I did, it’s definitely an added threat. I think I didn’t serve that well,” Gauff said. “Obviously I have to be able to counter that and also be as aggressive too as she [Yastremska] is at times.
“I think it’s just changing my playing style a little bit, which is difficult, because for me it’s like I approach clay and I play this one way for however long clay season is, six to eight weeks…Then I feel like when I go on hard, I don’t have to change as much, but I still have to adjust it a little bit.
“I know on grass I do. I feel like by the time I find it, it’s already time to play. It’s difficult, but I don’t know. I have faith that if I can make these adjustments, I can do well here.
“I really do want to do well here. I’m not someone who wants to write myself off grass this early in my career, but I definitely need to make changes if I want to be successful here.”
Gauff may have been down on her performance, but former World No. 1 and three-time Wimbledon runner-up Andy Roddick had no criticism.
Gauff has spoken on how she wants to improve her service gameGettyInstead he full of praise for her having already won her second Grand Slam of her career, but admits there is an issue with surface facing Gauff in London.
“It’s just game styles,” Roddick said on his Quick Served podcast.
“She’s great at what she does, and what she does, the most challenging surface is going to be grass, especially against a big hitter like Yastremska.
“She needed a comfortable match-up in the first couple of rounds to get her feet under her, get a feel for grass.
“I know she’s going to say is ‘this is like the worst thing ever’and that ‘this is super upsetting.’ She probably feels that way. But you tell her a month ago that ‘she wins Roland Garros and I don’t know what happens for the rest of the year. You might lose the first round of every tournament.’ Guess what she does? She signs that contract.
“So there’s no criticism for Coco Gauff right now. She’s just won her second Grand Slam. She’s one of the best players in the world. It’s just grass is going to be her toughest surface.
“It’s strange because that’s where we kind of got to know her when she beat Venus [Williams] when she was 15-years-old…
“Just simply, her game style is least beneficial on grass in the way that people can affect her in a negative way, stylistically, hard pace through the forehand is easier on grass.”
Nick Kyrigos offered his explanation as to why he feels that the American has struggled on the grass surface so far in her career.
“It’s a faster surface and I think her forehand swing sometimes can get a bit large on the grass and catch it a bit late,” Kyrigos said exclusively to talkSPORT.
Though Gauff’s Wimbledon bid has come to an end prematurely, the American now has some time to rest and recuperate before the hard court swing in North America.
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