Gauff is on the verge of earning her spot in the season-ending WTA Finals for the third time in a row after winning what she called a “unexpected” championship at the China Open in Beijing last week.
The 20-year-old Gauff has faced criticism despite making it to two Grand Slam semifinals and taking home two titles this year, particularly following her poor US Open defense last month.
In the second round of the Wuhan Open on Wednesday, Gauff will play Viktoriya Tomova. “People don’t realise people have great moments in sports and bad moments,” Gauff said to reporters.
“It has no significance. “I got inspiration from A’ja Wilson,” the Las Vegas Aces’ two-time WNBA basketball champion stated.
As the new face of Chinese tennis, Zheng Qinwen said on Tuesday that she was “feeling the responsibility” and that she needed to find a way to handle the pressure. Zheng shot to superstar status in her home country after reaching the Australian Open final and winning the Paris gold this year. “She’s kind of like, ‘It’s hard to stay winning all the time. You need to go through losses to realise what you need to do to evolve,” said Gauff.
There is a lot of activity for me, but I enjoy it. Especially I saw there are pictures of me everywhere. I mean, yes, that’s insane,” said Zheng, who turned 22 on Tuesday.
“People have big expectations of me here. I hope I could stay here longer. But tennis is always tough to predict.
“Of course, there is pressure. I’m also feeling the responsibility as a leader of the new generation, meaning what you are saying is under public scrutiny.”