Coco Gauff Reveals the Advice She Gave Herself After the 2022 French Open—Which Led to This Year's Victory

Coco Gauff made 2025 her year at the French Open. Winning over Aryna Sabalenka at the women's singles finals, she became the first American woman to take home the French Open trophy since Serena Williams in 2015.

Her champion title comes three years after placing runner-up at the 2022 French Open. In the time since, Gauff trained hard and won the U.S. Open in 2023—but also worked on her mindset, making changes to become both more focused and happier on the court.

Gauff spoke about the changes she made to feel more focused and happier on the court on the Marie Claire podcast "Nice Talk." Fresh off her victory, she told editor-in-chief Nikki Ogunnaike about the emotions she felt after the 2022 French Open and the advice she gave herself to move forward.

"Honestly, after that 2022 final, I had no idea how to access these tools," the tennis star says. "I didn't know how to center myself. I didn't know how to meditate. I didn't know how to look at the positive side of things. So I really sat in that disappointment for months, maybe up to even up to a year."

Time healed the wound, but Gauff still realized that she couldn't linger in negativity "if I want to accomplish my dreams."

"I can't be my biggest opponent first," the 21-year-old says. "I already have one opponent. I don't need two."

Gauff continues, "I realized that I have to look at the positives and control my own narrative and not let the narrative control me. And I felt like I was letting the tennis control my emotions, control my self-worth, control how I approach life and friendships, and I realized it should be the opposite."

So, the athlete decided to pay more attention to other parts of her life. "I started to welcome more friends in my life," she shares, "More family, enjoying those experiences, taking trips, going to concerts, and things like that. And I think the more I did that, the more I found happiness on the court."

Gauff also received advice from former tennis players about finding a balance between the sport and personal life. "They always talk about the importance of enjoying your life outside of tennis and enjoying the cities that you're in and not staying cooped up in the hotel room and just a tournament site," she explains. "So I think that has been the big part of my success, because especially the last year I've been trying to do more, force myself to go out...I thought to be a successful athlete that I had to be locked in at all times and kind of ignore other areas of my life and other needs of my life. And then I realized that you can definitely do both."

Clearly, the shift paid off.

Gauff opens up about what's next (including Wimbledon!), her fashion collaborations with New Balance and Miu Miu, and more on this week's installment of "Nice Talk." The episode is available everywhere you listen to podcasts.