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Coco Gauff faced a third-round exit at the 2023 Miami Open on Saturday night but exuded confidence in going a step further than last year in the upcoming clay season.
Despite winning a hard-fought first set, the 19-year-old lost 7-6(8), 5-7, 2-6 to 27th-seed Anastasia Potapova in two hours and 32 minutes. The 21-year-old Russian won her first match against the American in what was the third tour-level meeting between the two players. Gauff, who won this year's ASB Classic, now has a 15-5 win-loss record for the season.
With the clay swing set to begin next month, Gauff spoke about making the transition from playing on hard courts at her press conference afterwards.
"I definitely think the game does simplify a little bit. I have a clearer picture of how I want to play on that surface," Gauff said. "I definitely think physically, usually, those are the players that are doing well on clay, so I think that's why it suits me a lot."
The World No. 6 reached the third round at last year's Madrid Open as well as the Italian Open before reaching her maiden Grand Slam final at the French Open, where she lost to World No. 1 Iga Swiatek in straight sets. Gauff hopes to do better on clay this year.
"Taking in what I've done on the hard court season, I think, will help me into the clay season because last year, I didn't have a great start, and that clay season turned it around," she said. "Even though this tournament didn't go how I wanted, I would say I had a decent start to the year. I'm hoping I can have an even better clay season than last year."
"I have Billie Jean King Cup. Then switching to clay. I guess we'll focus on that. I'm going to use BJK Cup to figure out what I need to do on the hard court to get ready for the hard court season after Wimbledon," she added.
On-court decisions are better than last year: Coco Gauff on her start to 2023 season
Earlier this year, Coco Gauff reached the fourth round at the Australian Open, the semifinals at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships, and the quarterfinals of the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells. Although she lost in the third round at the ongoing Miami Open, the American opined that the beginning of her 2023 season has been better than last year's.
"It was definitely better than last year's start," Gauff said. "I think I improved throughout the season. I mean, obviously, today was a bit of a letdown for me. But I feel like the decisions I'm making on the court are better than the decisions I was making last year into the season."
Coco Gauff will next be part of Team USA in the Billie Jean King Cup qualifiers that will be played on April 14 and 15 against Team Australia.
