Even though she regularly beats her, Gauff regularly has words of admiration and even unusual respect for Mucha. Their duels always end with a hearty hug at the net and an exchange of post-match compliments. It was no different before and after Sunday’s round of 16 in Melbourne.
“I’m definitely disappointed, today I felt a chance. I had a lot of opportunities and I didn’t use them. On the other hand – respect to Coco, she played great. She defended herself well,” said the Czech tennis player in an interview with Tenisový svět.
“Coco is a great athlete, it’s no coincidence that she’s a top five player in the world. She returns a lot of balls. She definitely has a much more solid backhand,” added Muchová.
Gauffová was already waxing poetic about her Czech opponent before the match.
“I always say that she is one of the best players on the circuit and she deserves a lot more wins than she has. But injuries and other circumstances come into play. It will be a tough match. It’s never easy with her,” said the 21-year-old native of Atlanta.
After the match, she only confirmed her words: “She confirmed that she is a tremendously talented player. It was a difficult battle.”
At the press conference, the current world number three faced, among other things, a question about a special statistic that started circulating on social networks after the match.
Every time the American beat Muchová, she was happy afterwards at the given tournament about the title. This happened in 2023 in Cincinnati and at the US Open, in 2024 in Beijing and also last year at the team United Cup.
Gauffová, who had been very serious until then, had to laugh heartily at the twisted conclusion that, after Sunday’s win over Muchová, she should also dominate this year’s Australian Open.
“Yes, I saw it somewhere on the networks. I didn’t know about it at all,” responded the two-time Grand Slam winner. “But to be honest, I don’t think that’s a real rule,” she laughed.
“I think that in the previous cases I played with Karolina in the later stages of the tournament. That’s how it probably came together,” Gauff pointed out that she only advanced to the quarterfinals in Melbourne, in which she will face the experienced Ukrainian Elina Svitolina.
“I think I’d rather not think about it. But if I really win, I should probably thank her. I really don’t know,” the American finished with a laugh.
Gauff will play at least one Grand Slam quarterfinal in a season for the sixth year in a row. At such a young age, only Martina Hingis and Venus Williams could do something similar.
