PARIS (AP) \u2014 A little bit of self-persuasion went a very long way for Coco Gauff, whose victory at the French Open gave the 21-year-old American a trophy she has long coveted, and a second major title.
\nGauff defeated top-ranked Aryna Sabalenka 6-7 (5), 6-2, 6-4 on Saturday to add to her U.S. Open title two years ago.<\/p>\n
Sabalenka had been the more in-form player heading into the final and Gauff felt she needed some extra motivation.
\nSo she drew inspiration from Gabby Thomas, who became the women\u2019s Olympic 200-meter champion at last year\u2019s Paris Olympics. Thomas had kept writing down that she would be the Olympic champion in her Notes app, so Gauff tried adopting the same approach and grabbed a piece of paper.
\n\u201cI wrote, \u2018I will be French Open champion 2025\u2019 like a bunch of times," Gauff explained. \u201cShe (Thomas) wrote \u2018I will be the Olympic champion\u2019 and she ended up winning the gold. I think it\u2019s a great mindset that she had."
\nEight lines on a piece of paper written by Gauff late on a Friday night, then it was finally time for bed, time to rest.
\nNot quite.<\/p>\n
Gauff then persuaded herself a little bit more, by staring at the mirror and convincing herself she was looking at the face of a soon-to-be French Open champion.
\n\u201cLooking at myself in the mirror so I was trying to instil that belief, and obviously it happened. I didn\u2019t know if it was going to work or not. (But) it did," Gauff said, then laughed as she added: \u201cWhen you\u2019re desperate, you\u2019re just trying anything to think that it\u2019s going to help you win.\u201d<\/p>\n
Gauff also posted on Instagram another message she wrote to herself four years ago, which started with the words \u201cI had a dream last night that I will win (the) French Open.\u201d
\nJob done.<\/p>\n
What also stood out during the 2 hours and 38 minutes on Court Philippe-Chatrier on Saturday \u2014 in a gritty final punctuated by swirling winds due to the open roof \u2014 was how Gauff stayed calm while Sabalenka imploded and continually remonstrated with herself.
\nAll the screams and shouts were coming from Sabalenka’s side of the net, while there was an almost quiet, steely focus on Gauff’s side.
\nThat’s largely because, these days, Gauff gets her frustrations out before matches.
\n\u201cI know how important it is for me to let out those emotions so that when I come on the match court I can try and be as calm as possible," the No. 2-ranked Gauff said. \u201cI’m more cool-headed in matches. But in practice I can get pretty upset. Just let me be upset. If I’m upset, I\u2019d rather be upset on the practice court than the match.\u201d<\/p>\n
Gauff will now switch to the grass-court season and may play in Berlin, Germany in a week’s time before heading to London for Wimbledon, which starts on May 30.
\nWhen she gets to London, Gauff will indulge in one of her favorite hobbies: trying to get out of Escape Rooms.
\n\u201cFor sure, I love it, and I’m going to definitely do it,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
And how about Sabalenka? How will she be coping with the defeat and the frustrations she so clearly felt?
\nWill she be analyzing footage of the match over and over again, trying to understand where she went wrong and what she must do better?
\nFar from it.
\nShe’s off to indulge herself in Greece.
\n\u201cI already have a flight booked to Mykonos and alcohol, sugar. I just need couple of days to completely forget about this crazy world,\u201d Sabalenka said. \u201cTequila, gummy bears, and I don\u2019t know, swimming, being like the tourist for couple of days.\u201d<\/p>\n
Coco Gauff’s victory at the French Open is a testament to the power of positive thinking and self-persuasion. By writing down her goals and staring at herself in the mirror, Gauff was able to instill a sense of belief and confidence that ultimately led to her success.<\/p>\n
Q: How did Coco Gauff prepare for the French Open final?
\nA: Gauff prepared for the final by writing down her goals and staring at herself in the mirror to instill a sense of belief and confidence.
\nQ: Who inspired Gauff’s technique?
\nA: Gauff was inspired by Gabby Thomas, who became the women\u2019s Olympic 200-meter champion at last year\u2019s Paris Olympics.
\nQ: What is Gauff’s next tournament?
\nA: Gauff will now switch to the grass-court season and may play in Berlin, Germany before heading to London for Wimbledon.
\nQ: How will Sabalenka cope with her defeat?
\nA: Sabalenka will be taking time off to indulge herself in Greece and forget about the defeat.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Coco Gauff’s Road to Victory Introduction to the French Open PARIS (AP) \u2014 A little bit of self-persuasion went a very long way for Coco Gauff, whose victory at the French Open gave the 21-year-old American a trophy she has long coveted, and a second major title. Gauff defeated top-ranked Aryna Sabalenka 6-7 (5), 6-2, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":18691,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rank_math_lock_modified_date":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[25],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-18690","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/www.news10.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/64\/2025\/06\/6845758b9c1867.04194902.jpeg?w=900&w=900&resize=900,599&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/new-york\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18690"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/new-york\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/new-york\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/new-york\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/new-york\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18690"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/new-york\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18690\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18692,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/new-york\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18690\/revisions\/18692"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/new-york\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18691"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/new-york\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18690"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/new-york\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18690"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/new-york\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18690"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}