Coco Gauff is leading the way for American tennis as the nation’s top-ranked singles player.
Gauff made American tennis history after beating Marie Bouzkova to reach the fourth round of the French Open.
This has continued an impressive clay court season for the 21-year-old, with Gauff reaching the Rome and Madrid finals leading up to the Parisian major.
However, it is not just Gauff who has been impressing for American tennis, and she has now spoken about the strength of her compatriots.
Coco Gauff explains what has been special for American tennis this year at the French Open
After her straight sets victory over Bouzkova, Gauff headed to the TNT Sports desk to speak about her progressing to the second week.
During this interview, Gauff was asked about the likes of Madison Keys and Jessica Pegula also winning their respective third round matches.
In her response, Gauff praised the whole of American tennis including the men’s players and spoke about the camaraderie that they have.
“I think it’s very special,” said Gauff. “This is typically the tournament where we maybe don’t have the best performances in as a country so to have so many doing well, not only on the women’s side but on the men’s, it does feel very American and we’re all rooting for each other.
“I’m there to support them, whatever they need or anything. When you see other people doing well it makes you want to do better, it’s just that extra spirit I think. We all root for each other.
“This is very special to those who are paying attention at home, maybe those who are tennis fans, they know this is special. To those who are not, this is very special to have so many Americans in the second week at Roland Garros. That doesn’t happen too often.
“Hopefully we can continue that momentum, especially for years to come. We have a great group of young Americans and it’s usually a difficult swing for us, but we all just try to do better, going to dinner with each other, doing escape rooms with each other just to make this time in Europe a little bit more relaxing.”
American players make history at the French Open this year
It really has been a record-breaking French Open for American tennis, with eight players into the second week.
Led by Gauff, there are five women into the fourth round of the French Open this year, while men’s players Tommy Paul, Ben Shelton and Frances Tiafoe have reached this stage for the first time in their respective careers.
This is the first time since 1985 that eight American players have reached the second week of the French Open.
Gauff will now turn her attention to her fourth round match, where she will play 20th seed Ekaterina Alexandrova.
This will be a fifth meeting between the pair, but first on clay, with Gauff leading the head-to-head 3-1.
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