Coco Gauff: "I'm lucky to be from the US" — why she says Alexandra Eala faces more pressure than she does
Coco Gauff says she "can't really empathise" with Alexandra Eala, because the pressure Eala carries from an entire nation outweighs anything the American has felt herself.
Gauff, 22, is ranked world number four and already a two-time Grand Slam champion. Eala, 21, is ranked 18th and became the first Filipino to win a WTA singles title. Their careers run in parallel — they have even played doubles together — but the weight on each player's shoulders is not the same.
"I'm lucky to be from the US," Gauff said, explaining that Eala's Filipino fanbase creates an intensity of expectation that American players, spread across a wider sporting culture, simply do not face to the same degree. BBC Sport
Gauff knows pressure firsthand. She admitted she struggled to handle the expectations she placed on herself at last year's US Open. "Last year, I put so much pressure on myself," she said after her third-round victory over Cristina Bucsa at this year's tournament. BBC Sport
But Eala's situation is different in scale. Since breaking through, she has become a national icon in the Philippines. President Ferdinand Marcos held a reception in her honour at Malacanang Palace in Manila after she reached the fourth round at Wimbledon this year. She also claimed her maiden WTA 500 title at the Washington Open and won a second WTA 125 singles title at Birmingham in June. BBC Sport
Eala, for her part, says she is learning to carry it. "I've gained experience to handle pressure," she said in a press conference after a match in which she advanced when Gauff retired. Tennis Temple
The two players were within touching distance of meeting at this US Open, a matchup that would have pitted two of the WTA Tour's biggest draws against each other. It did not happen. Eala lost to Iva Jovic in the third round at Flushing Meadows, while Gauff met Jovic in the fourth round. BBC Sport
Eala's rise has been rapid. She became the first Filipino to win a match at the US Open in the Open era on her debut there last year, reached the last 16 at Wimbledon this summer, and now sits just outside the top 15. For a country without a deep tennis tradition, every deep run is a first.
Gauff's empathy gap is not coldness. It is recognition that being the hope of 115 million people is a different kind of weight — one she can observe, admire, but not fully feel.
