American tennis sensation Coco Gauff has said that she struggled to deal with the mental pressure brought on by her rapid ascent up the rankings, admitting that she spent ‘around a year’ battling depression.
The 16-year-old has made a sensational breakthrough onto the professional circuit since July 2019, when she memorably beat former world No. 1 Venus Williams en route to reaching the fourth round at Wimbledon in her first major championship appearance.
She immediately became a fan favourite, following up her run at Wimbledon by reaching the third round of the US Open and the fourth round of this year’s Australian Open.
Her success was enough to see her enter the top 50 in the WTA rankings, the first 15-year-old to do so in 15 years.
However, Gauff has now admitted that her extraordinary success left her feeling “really depressed”.
“Throughout my life, I was always the youngest to do things, which added hype that I didn’t want,” Gauff wrote in a post for Behind The Racquet.
“It added this pressure that I needed to do well fast.
“Right before Wimbledon, going back to around 2017/18, I was struggling to figure out if this was really what I wanted. I always had the results so that wasn’t the issue, I just found myself not enjoying what I loved.
“I realised I needed to start playing for myself and not other people. For about a year I was really depressed. That was the toughest year for me so far.”
Gauff added that she even considered taking a year off to focus on life.
“Choosing not to obviously was the right choice but I was close to not going in that direction. I was just lost,” she said. “I was confused and overthinking if this was what I wanted or what others did.
“It took many moments sitting, thinking and crying. I came out of it stronger and knowing myself better than ever.”
The teenager has repeatedly been compared to both Venus and Serena Williams, but Gauff said she is not happy to be constantly compared to the successful sisters.
“First, I am not at their level yet. I always feel like it’s not fair to the Williams sisters to be compared to someone who is just coming up,” she added.
“It just doesn’t feel right yet, I still look at them as my idols.
“Of course I hope to get to where they are but they are the two women that set the pathway for myself, which is why I can never be them.
“I would never have even thought about joining tennis, without them a part of it, since there were very few African Americans in the sport.
