Coco Gauff took to Australian Open press on Friday and was quizzed about Iga Swiatek and in particular whether she thinks that her confidence level has dropped since her doping ordeal which saw the former World No.1 banned for a month for taking TMZ to help with jetlag.
Gauff will aim to block out all of the questioning surrounding Swiatek and focus on her own campaign but she did respond to whether she thought her confidence has dropped especially given that they played at the United Cup recently with Gauff winning.
Gauff has turned the tables ever so slightly after having a really poor Head to Head record against Swiatek in the past and was superb in her win last week. But she didn't see it as a depleted Swiatek and more that she played a great game. She praised Swiatek and said she is still playing great tennis and ultimately is still World No.2.
“No. I mean, I wouldn't say she's dropped her confidence. For me, I don't know like her personally well, but just from the interactions that we've had, I definitely don't think anything she did was intentional. I feel like I don't think she was maybe -- I mean, like I found out with the rest of the world. I don't think she is not confident in herself.
"She's playing great tennis. The match we played, I just happened to be a little better that day, maybe won a few points. It could have easily went the other way. I think she's fine. I don't know her well enough to tell you if she feels some type of way about it. Yeah, I can just say from what I see I think she's doing fine. She's still No. 2 in the world and playing amazing tennis. She's always going to play amazing tennis, so... Yeah, I think she'll be fine.”
Coco Gauff says she doesn’t believe Iga Swiatek intentionally doped
— The Tennis Letter (@TheTennisLetter) January 10, 2025
“You obviously have a very exciting rivalry with Iga. Lately you have been able to get some wins under your belt. Do you see a drop in her confidence level after what she's gone through after the doping case?”… pic.twitter.com/cO7RiJSpjX