"Anyone can win the tournament," warns Gauff before her debut at Roland-Garros

Coco Gauff seems to have jump-started her season. The American, world number 2 since this week, reached the finals in Madrid and Rome, marking her first two finals of the season. However, she will still have to wait before lifting her first trophy since the WTA Finals last November.

She was indeed defeated by Aryna Sabalenka in Spain and then by Jasmine Paolini in Italy. Before starting her Roland-Garros tournament against Olivia Gadecki, Gauff discussed the pool of players who could claim the title in about two weeks.

"All the girls are playing excellent tennis, so I think it will be quite an open tournament. I hope to say that I'm one of the favorites, but there are so many other players like Jasmine (Paolini), Aryna (Sabalenka), Iga (Swiatek), Qinwen (Zheng) or Mirra (Andreeva), but there are others I could also mention.

Who can know what will happen? We all remember what Emma (Raducanu) did at the US Open (in 2021), so anyone can win the tournament. That’s what makes women's tennis so exciting.

Right now, there are a lot of serious contenders among the women, every match is thrilling," assured Gauff, who then reflected on her lost final at Porte d'Auteuil in 2022 against Swiatek.

"It was a strange feeling for me. I think I was well below what I hoped for during that final. Not necessarily in terms of play, but mentally. I was very disappointed with how I approached that match. I wasn't up to the challenge.

I always had a feeling that I would play another big final like that, and that the next time I found myself in a similar situation, I would hold my head high no matter what happens.

That's how I was able to manage the 2023 US Open final better, in a different way. Maybe I needed to experience what happened to me in Paris three years ago to have a different mindset a year later in New York," Gauff concluded for Punto De Break.