Coco Gauff was among the high-profile early exits at Wimbledon, with the French Open champion losing in the first round.
Former WTA number one Tracy Austin says Gauff never looked comfortable against Dayana Yastremska, who won their match 7-6(7-3), 6-1.
Gauff has a good relationship with Yastremska, who needed just one hour and 19 minutes to pull off the huge upset.
The American was the second seed at this year’s Wimbledon, and beat world number one Aryna Sabalenka in last month’s French Open final.
But it was Ukrainian ace Yastremska who came out on top in her clash with world number two Gauff under a closed roof on Court 1.
What Coco Gauff expects to hear from her team after shock Wimbledon exit
She now faces Anastasia Zakharova in round two of Wimbledon, with Gauff left to analyse her shock defeat in her post-match press conference.
In an honest evaluation, the two-time Grand Slam champion said: “I’m trying to be positive. After the match I definitely was struggling in the locker room.
“I don’t like losing. I know my team is gonna tell me ‘You did well at Roland Garros. Don’t be so upset’. But I don’t really like losing.
“I feel a bit disappointed with how I showed up today. I could’ve been a bit better in those tough tiebreaker moments.
“Especially after Roland Garros where I feel like I learned a lot in those tiebreakers. So yeah. Obviously I’m not gonna dwell on this too long, because I wanna do well at US Open.
“Maybe losing here first round isn’t the worst thing in the world because I have some time to reset. But yeah it definitely sucks.”
American WTA top 10 players experience contrasting first rounds at Wimbledon
Gauff’s team would be absolutely spot on if indeed they have told or plan to tell her to be proud of her recent efforts on the court.
She enjoyed a superb run at the French Open, culminating in a hard-fought victory over three-time Grand Slam winner Sabalenka.
It was an exact repeat of the 2023 US Open final, which arrived after the American lost the 2022 French Open final to Iga Swiatek.
Both Sabalenka and Swiatek have, however, now already outdone Gauff at Wimbledon after winning their opening matches.
But Gauff wasn’t the only high-profile American star to suffer a shock early exit, with third seed Jessica Pegula sent crashing out by Elisabetta Cocciaretto.
Faring much better, however, were their fellow American WTA top 10 players Madison Keys and Emma Navarro, who beat Elena-Gabriela Ruse and Petra Kvitova respectively.
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