MANILA, Philippines — American tennis star and world No. 4 Coco Gauff certainly has had her share of pressure in her pursuit of excellence at the WTA Tour.
Safe to say, Gauff is holding it down just fine as she sports 12 titles and once held a career-high rank of No. 2.
At only 22 years old, Gauff is a figure Filipino tennis ace Alex Eala could look up to especially since she is just a year younger than the American.
For Gauff's part, though, she said she couldn't really relate to world No. 18 Eala in terms of carrying the hopes of a nation when it comes to sporting glory.
In the US Open fourth round, Gauff faces world No. 14 and fellow American Iva Jovic who defeated Eala in their third round clash, 7-5, 3-6, 7-5, on Sunday.
"I can't emphasize [that] at all because she's the first Filipino player to break a lot of the barriers that she's done, especially on the female side, and when you speak of athletes from the Philippines, I mean, she's doing similar things with what Manny Pacquiao is doing for her country," said Gauff.
Gauff believes that Eala carries more pressure than her since the Filipino has become the Philippine trailblazer especially in tennis, where she recorded many "firsts," including being the first Filipino WTA champion in Washington just last month.
"I'm lucky to be from the US where we had a lot of icons to look up to, and people who've already broken down doors for me to be here where I am, so I can't really emphasize in that aspect," said Gauff.
"I think the only way I can [relate] is maybe just the hype of everybody expecting you to win every single match. I guess I can't emphasize on that standpoint, but I definitely think she probably has more pressure, or, well, I don't know, from the outside looking in, has more pressure.”
Gauff and Eala split their matches at 1-1 while also being former doubles partners at the Italian Open last year.
They became friends in the process.
“Her family just reminds me so much of mine. She has a brother, and both her parents are usually with her at tournaments, and she's just such a cool, nice girl, and someone I would like to get to know even more,” Gauff said.
“We just went for dinner for the first time, actually, in Toronto, and I got to know her a little bit more then, and obviously we played doubles together, but I have a lot of respect for her and what she's doing."
