Gauff must start again when Kenin eliminates her in the first round at Wimbledon

After falling to Sofia Kenin in the first round of Wimbledon on Monday, Coco Gauff promised to use her disappointment to work on her game in order to advance in her quest for a Grand Slam victory.

The resurgent Kenin, who defeated the seventh-seeded Gauff in the All England Club final but had to go through qualification to do so, was the more assured of the two Americans. She controlled play and pushed the youngster about the court. Kenin had previously won the 2020 Australian Open.

Gauff admitted her disappointment and frustration after suffering her first-ever opening-round loss at the grasscourt major, a 6-4 4-6 6-2 loss.

“So, certainly, I believe that motivates me to work more. Although I think I’ve been working hard, it’s obviously not enough.

I must return to the drawing board to determine where I need to improve and how to carry out the appropriate exercises for that.

Gauff said that her weak forehand has been targeted by rivals and that she has to improve it.

Of course, she used her forehand.

“On those shoots, I’m going to be more aggressive. I believe I erred on my forehand and backhand too often today.

She said that she needed to improve on confronting her adversary.

I didn’t really put her under a lot of strain, she said.

She didn’t have to be as excellent to make a ball on the court, in my opinion, and I wouldn’t do much with it. That is what took place.

She has a game where she can make aggressive shots, so if I played too passively, she would.

Kenin, who peaked at number four in the world in March 2020 but is now placed 128th, termed 2023 a “comeback year” for her and said on Monday that she benefitted from low expectations.

“When I was higher ranked and everything, people looked at me like I should win,” said Kenin.

She is under more strain than I am, so I anticipated that she would be a little more tense. I just attempted to maximise my advantages throughout this battle.

In the second round, Kenin will compete against Wang Xinyu of China.