- Navarro overcame the Wimbledon second seed 6-4, 6-3 to reach the last eight
- Gauff is still yet to progress beyond the fourth round at the All England Club
- The US Open champion admitted she wanted more direction from her team
Coco Gauff turned on her own coaching team as she was knocked out in the fourth round by her fellow American Emma Navarro.
As the match slipped away she spoke frantically to coaches Jean-Christophe Faurel and Brad Gilbert, demanding more advice. Since last year a player’s team are allowed to give advice from the stands at Wimbledon, but this almost descended into a row.
‘We had a game plan going in. I felt that it wasn’t working,’ explained Gauff after her 6-4, 6-3 defeat. ‘I don’t always ask for advice from my the box. Today was one of those rare moments where I felt I didn’t have solutions. I don’t want to say I didn’t have any because I think I’m a capable player of coming up with some. I think today mentally there was a lot going on. I felt like I wanted more direction from the box.
‘Today I don’t think we were all in sync. It’s no one’s blame except myself. I mean, I’m the player out there. I have to make decisions for myself on the court.’
Asked about the drama at the other end of the court, Navarro said: ‘It’s definitely a bit of a confidence boost, knowing that your game plan is doing what you wanted it to do.
‘I don’t normally give the other side of the court too much energy. I keep it on my side of the court. Seeing her kind of frustrated and looking at her box, putting her arms up in the air, it gave me a little bit of momentum and some energy that I needed.’
Gauff’s difficult relationship with Wimbledon continues. In 2019 she exploded into the tennis universe by reaching the fourth round here on debut as a 15-year-old qualifier – but in four subsequent visits she is still yet to make it past that stage.
Her serve suits the grass but she plays with an extreme western grip on her forehand, meaning she struggles to whip up the low balls that shoot through on this surface.
There is a feeling among many in the game that the 20-year-old will have to tweak that grip if she is to achieve her lofty ambitions in the game – she told Mail Sport before this tournament she wanted to win at least 10 Grand Slams.
Navarro did not disguise the fact that she won by exploiting the weak link in the Gauff game.
‘I really wanted to attack her forehand,’ she said when asked to describe her gameplan. ‘I think she wanted to do the same to me. We found ourselves in a lot of forehand cross-court rallies. It was kind of a cat and mouse, who’s going to change the pattern first.
‘I love matches like that where it feels like it’s not just a hitting or striking competition, there’s strategy involved. It feels like a chess match or something. That was really enjoyable for me.’
Navarro, 23, has been a far later bloomer than her better-known compatriot but is having an outstanding year. The daughter of billionaire businessman Ben Navarro, she lost in the first round of Wimbledon last year as the world No55. Now the No19 seed, she has as fair a chance as anyone of winning the whole thing.
Explaining her rapid rise, Navarro said: ‘I’ve been just way more comfortable playing on that stage than I would have thought.
‘Maybe just the accumulation of experiences on stages like that and in stadiums like that have allowed me to be more comfortable playing in that type of environment.
‘Just rode the wave of that comfort, I guess. Let the practice I’ve put in and the hours of work take control.’
The top three seeds are now all out in the women’s draw, and both of last year’s finalists. Navarro faces French Open finalist Jasmine Paolini in the last eight, after the Italian got past Madison Keys in a dramatic match on No1 Court.
Keys led 5-2 in the deciding set on only to injure her groin on the point on which her serve was broken.
The American took a nine-minute medical timeout before serving for the match at 5-4 as she tried to soldier in floods of tears but eventually had to concede.