Coco Gauff thinks Canadian tennis is in a healthy place ahead of her Montreal Open campaign.
The 20-year-old is ready to return to hard court action after a long clay and grass court season which ended with the Olympic Games in Paris.
Back in more familiar surroundings after disappointment at the Olympics Gauff will begin her road towards trying to defend the US Open title at Flushing Meadows.
Canada is the first stop along that road and the World number two is bidding to win the title for the first time in her career.
What did Coco Gauff say about Canadian tennis?
Coco Gauff held a pre-tournament press conference in which she discussed her chances of success in the tournament.
She also commented on Canadian tennis, which has been quite successful in recent times with the likes of 2019 US Open champion Bianca Andreescu, 2021 runner-up Leylah Fernandez and Felix Auger-Aliassime. Gauff thinks tennis in Canada is in a healthy state and wants to see the nation have more events on the tour.
“Honestly from my perspective it didn’t look as small as a sport just because when I was growing up I was with Leylah in juniors, so when you are growing up around a lot of Canadians playing you don’t realise how small of a sport it is.
“I was looking around here and they have a lot of photos of players and it really isn’t that many over the years but it’s grown and I think it’s great,” she said.
“I think with Bianca and Leylah doing their thing, I think it will inspire more people to come into this sport because if you don’t see anyone from your country excelling you’re not going to be someone to choose that sport.
“So we should credit the players now, like Leylah, Felix, Gabby Dabrowski winning bronze, I think the more results they have the more they will bring people into the sport, so hopefully they will continue to do their thing because I love Canada and it would be nice to see more tournaments here on tour.”
Who will Coco Gauff play at the Canadian Open?
Gauff will play at the Canadian Open as the top seed due to the absence of World number one and Olympic bronze medalist Iga Swiatek.
The American will begin her campaign against either a qualifier of compatriot Sofia Kenin in round one.
Diana Shanider or Magdalena Frech could be waiting in the following round, and a quarter-final matchup against either Ons Jabeur or Naomi Osaka could take place later in the tournament.
Aryna Sabalenka is on the other side of the draw and is seeded second, meaning she cannot meet Gauff until the final.
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