By Agence France-Presse
Teenage tennis sensation Coco Gauff revealed Thursday that she suffered depression as a 14-year-old, just before her history-making Wimbledon breakthrough.
Cori Gauff (Rob Carr / Getty Images / AFP / FILE PHOTO)
Gauff said she struggled with her mental health after being constantly touted as the sport’s next big thing and even hailed as a new Serena Williams.
“Throughout my life, I was always the youngest to do things, which added hype that I didn’t want,” Gauff told the ‘Behind the Racquet’ website.
“It added this pressure that I needed to do well fast. Right before Wimbledon, going back to around 2017/18, I was struggling to figure out if this was really what I wanted.
“I always had the results so that wasn’t the issue, I just found myself not enjoying what I loved. I realised I needed to start playing for myself and not other people. For about a year I was really depressed. That was the toughest year for me so far.”
Gauff has had to deal with a great deal more pressure in the last 12 months after becoming — at just 15 — the youngest player to qualify for Wimbledon last summer.
She went on to reach the last 16 at the All England Club, beating former champion Venus Williams on the way.
She then made the third round of the US Open and fourth round at the Australian Open in January.
Source: Manila Bulletin
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