Coco Gauff faces this Friday her quarterfinal match of the WTA 1,000 in Rome against an opponent, the less complicated, the world number 1 Ashleigh Barty. The young American tennis player faces the match after having become one of the great sensations of the Roman tournament.
It is not for less. ANDn his way to the quarter-finals, Gauff has left the likes of Yulia Putintseva (after an agonizing match lasting almost three hours), the Greek Maria Sakkari, 17th favorite for the title, or the Belarusian Aryna Sabalenka., who had just won the title at the Mutua Madrid Open.
In statements at a press conference collected by WTA Insider, Gauff herself wanted to confess what has been the key to face the most difficult moments in the tournament. “If I'm honest, I would like to refer to something that has helped me in the game. He had just finished watching 'Demon Slayer'. The protagonist, Tanjiro, has a correct breathing technique before he fights. When I'm nervous, I find that lowering my breathing helps a lot. “
Gauff stressed that this tactic of relaxing the breath in moments of nervousness has helped him achieve this success in Rome. “I could say that today I have thought about it in my head at least 5 or 10 times. He had to have the same total concentration of breathing as Tanjiro. He probably won't do it like him, but he has definitely helped me through these match points and before facing them. It was like 'okay, let's do the breathing like him'. Many thanks to Demon Slayer for helping me. “ We'll see if Tanjiro's breathing helps Coco Gauff again today in her complicated duel against Ashleigh Barty.