Coco Gauff was "mentally overwhelmed" before becoming one of the 23 seeded players who failed to win Wimbledon 2025 openers, setting a record for the grass court major and tying the mark for any Grand Slam in history.
July 2 (UPI) -- Coco Gauff was "mentally overwhelmed" before becoming one of the 23 seeded players who failed to win Wimbledon 2025 openers, setting a record for the grass court major and tied the mark for any Grand Slam in history.
The top-ranked American (No. 2) advanced to at least the quarterfinals in five of her last seven majors, including her first French Open title, but lasted just 79 minutes in London.
"I'm trying to be positive," Gauff told reporters with tears in her eyes. "After the match, I was definitely struggling in the locker room. I don't like losing.
"I'm sure my team and everyone is going to tell me I did well in Roland-Garros and to not be so upset, but I really don't like losing."
No. 42 Dayana Yastremska of Ukraine topped Gauff 16-6 in winners and broke the American's serve four times in the 7-6(3), 6-1 victory Tuesday at the All-England Lawn Tennis Club.
Gauff said she couldn't find her footing and cited difficulty she faced in making the switch from Rolland-Garros' clay courts to the grass surfaces of the third major of the season, but also gave credit to her first-round foe.
"I feel like mentally, I was a little bit overwhelmed with everything that came afterwards," Gauff said. "So, I didn't feel like I had enough time to celebrate and also get back into it.
"It's the first time of this experience of coming off a win and having to play Wimbledon. I definitely learned a lot of what I would and would not do again."
Gauff beat No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus for her first French Open title June 7 in Paris. She played one grass-court match June 19 before starting her run Tuesday in London.
Yastremska, a 2024 Australian Open semifinalist, was knocked out in the third round of the 2025 French Open, losing May 30 to No. 19 Liudmila Samsonova of Russia. She then played eight combined matches between two grass-court tournaments leading into Wimbledon.
"I would say the quick turnaround, most of the seeds are going deeper in Roland-Garros and then you spend the long clay season and you have to come and try to adjust to grass," Gauff said. "Some people play the week before. ... But its not an easy quick turnaround.
"If you are going deep in Roland-Garros, you are debating on 'Do I rush and play that week or take time and play the week before?' It's a trick thing.
"It seems like [second-ranked] Carlos Alcaraz and [No. 6] Novak Djokovic are the ones to figure it out, and even [Alcaraz] had a tough first-round match. I think it's just a combination of everything.
"I don't know if it's just the [weather] conditions this year. I think this slam out of all of them is the most prone to have upsets just because of how quick the turnaround is from clays."
With her loss, Gauff joined seeded No. 3 Jessica Pegula of the United States, No. 5 Zheng Qinwen of China, No. 9 Paula Badosa of Spain, No. 15 Karolina Muchova of the Czech Republic, No. 20 Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia, No. 25 Magdalena Frech of Poland, No. 26 Marta Kostyuk of Ukraine, No. 27 Magda Linette of Poland and No. 32 McCartney Kessler of the United States as players who failed to advance to the second round of Wimbledon 2025.
Meanwhile, 13 men's seeds are already out of the draw, setting a Wimbledon record and tying the all-time major mark -- from the 2004 Australian Open -- for the most seeded men's players to not advance to the second round of a Grand Slam.
They were No. 3 Alexander Zverev of Germany, No. 7 Lorenzo Musetti of Italy, No. 8 Holger Rune of Denmark, No. 9 Daniil Medvedev of Russia, No. 16 Francisco Cerundolo of Argentina, No. 18 Ugo Humbert of France and, No. 20 Alexei Popyrin of Australia,
Also, No. 24 Stefanos Tsitsipas of Greece, No. 27 Denis Shapovalov of Canada, No. 28 Alexander Bublik of Kazakhstan, No. 30 Alex Michelsen of the United States, No. 31 Tallon Griekspoor of the Netherlands and No. 32 Matteo Berrettini of Italy.
Gauff's loss was just her second first-round exit over her last 14 Grand Slam appearances, with two of her last three in Wimbledon openers. She won two titles and made eight quarterfinal appearances, five semifinals and eight quarterfinals over her most recent 14 major tournament span.
"Obviously, I'm not going to dwell on this too long because I want to do well at the U.S. Open," Gauff said. "Maybe losing here in the first round isn't the worst because I have some time to reset, but it definitely sucks."
Yastremska will face No. 95 Anastasia Zakharova of Russia in the second round of Wimbledon. Zakharova, a Wimbledon qualifier, beat No. 87 Victoria Azarenka of Belarus in her opener.
Sabalenka, world No. 5 Jasmine Paolini of Italy, No. 13 Elina Svitolina of Ukraine, No. 15 Diana Shnaider of Russia and Americans Madison Keys (No. 8) and Amanda Anisimova (No. 12) are among the top women in action in Wednesday's second round.
Alcaraz of Spain, No. 14 Alexander Rublev of Russia and Americans Taylor Fritz (No. 5) and Frances Tiafoe (No. 12) are the top men playing Wednesday.
Second-round coverage airs from 6 a.m. through 4 p.m. EDT Wednesday on ESPN, ESPN Deportes and ESPN+. Coverage of the round will continue at the same time Thursday on those platforms.
Category: General Sports
