Coco Gauff 'Panicked' During Wimbledon Semifinal Loss

Coco Gauff had just the shot she was looking for. Seven years after her breakthrough at Wimbledon, the American player was on the verge of reaching her first final at the All England Club. All she needed to do was execute what appeared to be a manageable put-away on her first match point. The thing is, it's never that simple in a Grand Slam semifinal, especially toward the end of a decisive super tiebreaker on Centre Court—the sport's most hallowed venue. Gauff fluffed a forehand drop-shot attempt into the net and her opponent Karolina Muchova went on to see out a drama-filled tiebreaker to win 6-2, 1-6, 7-6 (10) on Thursday, the AP reports.

On the match point, Gauff hit a well-placed serve down the T on the ad court and Muchova's weak forehand return bounced before the service line—right in Gauff's attack zone. But Muchova's shot had some topspin on it and kicked up higher than Gauff was anticipating. "The bounce kind of caught me off guard," Gauff said. "I just panicked a little bit."

• After the miss, Gauff ran her non-hitting hand over her face and practiced a full-swing forehand that perhaps she would have preferred in hindsight. "People who don't watch tennis are going to be like, 'Why did you do that?" Gauff said. "At the end of the day, that's the choice I made. Was it the right one in that moment? Maybe not. But then also, if I make it, everyone's going to say how clutch of a shot that was. That's just tennis. You lose some points off margins."
• Muchova also lost a match point before she came out on top when Gauff hit a forehand into the net. "It was such a big fight," Muchova said. "It was a roller coaster." Muchova will meet Linda Noskova in an all-Czech final on Saturday after Noskova beat Marta Kostyuk of Ukraine 6-4, 6-4. There will be a third Czech champion in four years after Marketa Vondrousova in 2023 and Barbora Krejcikova in 2024.
• For Gauff, it was still her most successful Wimbledon. Previously, the seventh-ranked American had gone only as far as the fourth round three times—including as a 15-year-old in 2019 in her Grand Slam debut.
• The men's semifinals on Friday feature top-ranked and defending champion Jannik Sinner against seven-time Wimbledon winner Novak Djokovic,and French Open champion Alexander Zverev against British wild card Arthur Fery.