Coco Gauff is going into the French Open in far better shape following her trips to the Madrid and Italian Open finals.
Prior to arriving in the Spanish capital, the 21-year-old had not reached the championship match of any event since the United Cup in January.
In fact, she had not progressed beyond the quarter-finals of any event after her success with Team USA at the start of the season.
That changed in Madrid and Rome and Gauff has repositioned herself as one of the favourites to take the French Open title.
Andy Roddick thinks Coco Gauff is in a ‘weird’ place ahead of the French Open
Coco Gauff has endured a mixed season and she has yet to win an individual title.
Her best results are runner-up appearances in Madrid and Rome, which came at a key time the opportunity to win a Grand Slam being less than a week away.
Given her mixed results this season, Andy Roddick thinks the surprise at Gauff losing finals despite having won a Grand Slam and being the new World number two puts her in a strange place ahead of her pursuit for a title in Paris.
“It’s a strange thing. I have sympathy for her. Coco lost in the finals and it looks like she is really disappointed and angsty in the final,” Roddick said on his ‘Served’ podcast.
“She is in this weird place where she has won a slam, she is two in the world and we are also going – why hasn’t she won that final? It is a weird place for her to be.
“She has played great, turned her year, which at the start was pretty average, and made finals in Madrid and Rome. It’s one of those things where you tell her a month ago that you win this many matches and it’s great, but you lose two finals and it’s like this sucks.”
Andy Roddick assesses Coco Gauff’s defeat in the Italian Open final
For the second successive tournament, Gauff reached the final and lost in straight sets.
Gauff was beaten by Aryna Sabalenka 6-3, 7-6 in Madrid, before Jasmine Paolini won the Italian Open in front of her crowd, defeating Gauff 6-4, 6-2.
Gauff hit an astonishing 55 unforced errors against Paolini as she struggled to produce her best tennis and she appeared to struggle with the slow, cloudy and heavy conditions in Saturday’s final.
Roddick commented on Gauff’s body language throughout the match and during the trophy presentation at the Foro Italico, while also acknowledging the number of errors she made.
“It’s weird – you know she is one of the favourites but she maybe felt angsty. Maybe it was that she didn’t want to bring the Italian crowd in, she was quiet,” Roddick said.
“On air they were saying she looks flat. I don’t know that she was flat. Maybe she was strategic and she didn’t want to bring the crowd in against Paolini.”
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