Gauff hit herself in the head with her racket twice brutally while walking towards her chair for the changeover. It was a raw, unfiltered reaction from a player who is clearly not satisfied with the level of tennis she is playing at the moment. The American quickly gathered herself and responded in a champion manner. She won the second set with a dominant 6-0 performance. After giving seven break point opportunities in the first set, the third seed did not give a single chance to the Argentine to come back in the set.
Then again, in the third set, the world No. 4 was down a double break. She showed a lot of frustration to her teammates, who were constantly trying to calm her down. She staged a comeback from there but struggled to close out the deciding set. Gauff was 5-3 up with a match point on her serve, but Sierra stretched the match into the 10th game. Finally, the two-time Grand Slam champion sealed the victory after two hours and 10 minutes of back and forth with a 6-4 victory in the final set.
Coco Gauff przegrała pierwszego seta 5:7 w meczu z Solaną Sierrą
Amerykanka nie kryła swojej frustracji na koniec partii, uderzała się w głowę
#IBI26 | #zkortu pic.twitter.com/ZgULVoqnjG
— Z kortu – informacje tenisowe (@z_kortu) May 9, 2026
The 22-year-old has not had the best season so far, with zero titles and a 21-8 record on the tour. This is significantly below par by the standard set by the American. Hence, the incident fits perfectly into the pattern Gauff is going through.
She is the defending champion at Roland Garros, and before heading into this clay season, she talked about wanting to manage her emotions better, especially with the title defence approaching. Speaking ahead of the Italian Open, Gauff took out a lesson from her first Grand Slam title defence at the 2024 US Open.
“I learned from going into the US Open as defending champion, so I’m hoping this time I’m a little bit more chill. When your body experiences something before, it knows how to react and train your mind,” she said.
In light of all that, the racket incident is highly significant. Gauff aims for calm, but competitive passion still bubbles up. This isn’t Gauff’s first foray into the challenge. Her competitive passion has been on display throughout her career; some of her best moments have been fueled by it, but sometimes it has even gotten the better of her on court. The difference this time is that she’s a Grand Slam champ, a defending French Open champion, and the pressure is that much greater on her at every game she plays between here and Roland Garros.
Gauff gained 3,408 WTA ranking points in her last year’s clay stretch, which is almost half of her total ranking points. As a result, a bad run here, or in Paris, could have huge ramifications for her place in the rankings. There’s pressure on her to protect those points she can’t really avoid, no matter how chill she claims to be. Additionally, her 2026 season has been somewhat average, with her most successful performance being as a runner-up in her hometown of Miami. The real accounting of her year will be in Rome and at Roland Garros.
Sierra has not been an easy player to remove from the path. The world No. 72 has demonstrated this season on clay with higher-ranked players that she can play with them, and a set off Gauff at a WTA 1000 event will only help her confirm her reputation.
Coco Gauff’s Roland Garros defence looms large
A ticket to the round of 16 is guaranteed at the Italian Open, but the rest of the story is to be played out in three weeks when Coco Gauff steps onto the clay at Roland Garros for the first time in her career as the defending champion. She narrowly missed out on Madrid and Rome titles last year, before claiming the French Open title by defeating world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka in a three-set thriller. The road to that title was not linear, and neither is this one shaping up to be.
All the top 20 players in the world are playing in this Masters event. Therefore, whoever manages to claim this title or even get close to it will have high chances to carry forward the form in Paris. The 22-year-old talked about her US Open lesson, when she started her US Open defence, only to exit in the round of 16 to compatriot Emma Navarro. She will be vigilant in not repeating those mistakes later this month.
Gauff was even struggling in Madrid in her third-round win against Sorana Cirstea. She had fallen ill and even considered retiring mid-match, but continued grinding and got through it. In the next match, she lost to the 13th seed, Linda Noskova, in three sets. She will be facing one of her compatriots in the fourth round, whoever wins between Taylor Townsend and Iva Jovic.
