Adriano Panatta, the 1976 French Open champion and former world No. 4 from Italy, voiced strong criticism regarding the performance of American player Coco Gauff following her loss in the final of the WTA 1000 tournament in Rome. Gauff was defeated by Jasmine Paolini with a score of 4-6, 2-6.
Panatta stated, “Gauff lost without any intelligence. She is a player created in a laboratory; her facial expression never changes during a match. She and her team don`t understand that she needs to change her playing style. A player at this level should change coaches. Gauff, like many top athletes today, is built for playing on hard courts. She hit a short ball that I haven`t even seen from two old ladies at a club. Today, you`re only taught to hit hard without thinking. 95% of players play like Gauff; the one who makes fewer mistakes wins: it`s deadly boring.”
He continued, “I enjoy watching Paolini because she thinks and forces those one-dimensional players to play poorly. They should stay on hard courts and not come here [to clay]. If she wants to be a real champion, she must be able to play on any surface. In men`s competitions, the big guys win everywhere. In the women`s category, the ranking is skewed… We should have a circuit exclusively on hard courts. They all play the same way; they also hit with impressive power. But in tennis, there`s a net and there are lines: hitting hard isn`t enough, you have to learn how to play tennis.”
