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Channel Slam, Part 2: Gauff begins her Wimbledon push

2m read 28 Jun 2025 1w ago
Coco Gauff
Jimmie48/WTA

Summary Generated By AI

Twelve days after her Roland Garros title, Coco Gauff arrives at SW19, balancing the weight of history with the practical challenge of a surface that doesn’t wait.

highlights

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WIMBLEDON -- It’s been a decade since Serena Williams captured the French Open and Wimbledon back-to-back -- the so-called “Channel Slam.”

“Oh, that would be really hard,” said No. 2 seed Coco Gauff

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in the Paris final has her halfway there. “I understand why it hasn’t been done that often.

“It is a quick turnaround. You go from winning such a high tournament and kind of having to be back to work not even a few days later.”

This, Gauff knows all too well.

Twelve days after her triumph at Roland Garros, she was playing her first -- and it turns out only -- match on grass. She lost to eventual finalist Wang Xinyu in straight sets.

“It’s obviously a lot different than clay,” Gauff said. “Just keeping the ball lower. Obviously clay, it’s playing with a lot of height, heaviness, and that type of game. [Grass] I feel you need to play a little bit lower and a little bit more aggressive. We have 13 days to completely -- not completely change, because you still have the core of your game, but just change a little bit how you play.”

In a first-round match here six years ago, a 15-year-old Gauff stunned five-time Wimbledon champion Venus Williams in what felt like a torch-passing moment. 

“I think that moment for me was the start of believing that maybe my dreams could come true,” Gauff said. “I mean, that still feels crazy. It still feels like a dream.

“I had so much belief. I feel now I've kind of regained that belief in myself. I feel like I lost it somewhere along the way, between 15 and 19. At 19 I was able to regain that.”

That was a reference to her US Open title in 2023.

Now, she says, she hopes to take the next step at Wimbledon. It starts Tuesday with a tricky first-round match against Dayana Yastremska

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“The next goal coming up, obviously to have a good result here,” Gauff said. “I’ve lost in the fourth round [three] times, so I would love to get past that stage. Yeah, I would say that’s the next thing I'm looking forward to.

I would love to win this, but I’m a big believer in just conquering one step at a time. If I get past that stage, then I’ll start thinking about the winning.”

 

Summary Generated By AI

Twelve days after her Roland Garros title, Coco Gauff arrives at SW19, balancing the weight of history with the practical challenge of a surface that doesn’t wait.

highlights

Joint overcomes Eala in three-set Eastbourne final thriller

04:59
Joint - 2025 Eastbourne final