PARIS: Coco Gauff is keen to sidestep any pressure that might come with starting Roland Garros as the defending women’s champion as she returns to the site of her most consistent Grand Slam success.
“Last year feels like ten years ago,” the American said at media day on Friday.
Gauff comes into the tournament seeded fourth, fresh from reaching the Rome final on clay where she lost to Elina Svitolina.
At 22, she is about to play her seventh French Open.
She won her first Grand Slam at the US Open in 2023, but Roland Garros is where she has shone most consistently. She has reached the last eight in each of her last five appearances in the French capital, including winning the tournament in 2025.
