Coco Gauff Admits She ‘Kind of Broke Down’ After Naomi Osaka Loss at US Open

Coco Gauff is learning from her disappointing performance.

The 21-year-old tennis star opened up about her loss to Naomi Osaka, 27, on Monday, Sept. 1 at the US Open, and discussed her strengths and weaknesses during the match that ultimately left her “disappointed” with the result.

During her post-match press conference, Gauff was asked by reporters what she hopes to take away from her US Open experience this year, especially as someone who “prides” herself in “learning from adversity.”

“I think that [I’m] trying to be more positive,” the two-time Grand Slam winner replied. “After the match I was really disappointed. Kind of broke down to my team. Then hearing their perspectives and everything, it definitely is a lot of positive things.”

“I think if I kept the way I was going in Cincinnati to here, I would have been out the first round,” she continued. “So I think where my serve started from the start of the tournament to today was a big improvement. I feel like now I just have to get everything to work together.”

Osaka beat Gauff 6-3, 6-2 in the fourth round in Flushing Meadows.

Gauff said that she “knew going in” to the match against the four-time Grand Slam champ that it was going to be “a tough tournament” for herself, she told reporters.

“Did I feel like I had a lot of confidence after my last match? Yeah, definitely,” she added at the post-match presser. “I think that was a big confidence booster. So today feels more disappointing, I think, than maybe it would have felt losing in the first or second round.”

Osaka will go on to play Karolína Muchová in the quarterfinals on Wednesday, Sept. 3.

The 2025 US Open has been an emotional ride for Gauff, who broke down in tears after she overcame her nerves and issues with her serve in a second-round win against Croatian Donna Vekic on Thursday, Aug. 28.

“I just show people what it’s like to be a human, and I have bad days, but I think it’s more about how you get up after those bad moments and how you show up after that,” she said after the match. “I think today I showed that I can get up after feeling the worst I’ve ever felt on the court.”

At points during the match, Gauff dabbed away tears and looked unsettled. After she won the first set against Vekic, she held a towel to her face and her hands were visibly shaking.

But when Vekic used a medical timeout to deal with an arm injury, Gauff took a bathroom break. While doing so, she splashed water on her face and seemingly snapped out of it.

“It was just nerves and just pressure, honestly, and I’m someone that usually can thrive on that,” Gauff said at the time. “There’s been a lot on me this tournament, more than usual, which I expected coming in.”