It was a tough loss to swallow for Coco Gauff, whose Wimbledon campaign came to an end, but she didn’t let that dampen her mood. Hate comments have become part and parcel of a tennis player’s life, and she took the opportunity to clap back at the hate she might have received after her loss to Karolina Muchova.

“I probably already got some hate comments..You know the bettors who lose mad and stuff,” said Gauff in her press conference…”it’s the usual, but it doesn’t, it sucks, but it’s like whatever. I’ll come on the winning end the next time and I’ll be sure to tag them.”

Surely her fans were disappointed in the last set as Gauff was inches close to the win. The match had started with both players splitting the first two sets, but the third set was where both players raised their level and took the match to a 10-point tiebreaker.

And although the American addressed the situation of receiving online hate humorously, betting and gambling have been a rampant issue in tennis in recent years, with many players receiving threats from bettors after a loss. Last year, Jessica Pegula and Madison Keys also addressed this issue on their podcast, but no resolution has been provided officially on this matter.

Addressing the frustration, Gauff was not amiss when she talked about fine margins in her press conference, which left her quite disappointed as well.

On a knife-edge at 7-7, Gauff made a double fault, giving Muchova the 8-7 lead and two serves to close the match out. However, the Czech felt the pressure, making two unforced errors, allowing Gauff to serve the match at 9-8. Gauff delivered a great first serve down the line, getting a short return from Muchova, which the American rushed to the net to finish. However, instead of going for a full-blooded groundstroke, she attempted a drop shot that hit the net and opened up the court for Muchova’s return.

Having gotten that let off, Muchova hit an amazing lob and a forehand winner for her next two points. Even though Gauff saved one match herself, the pressure took its toll, and the American missed a final shot that would have given her the victory.

“I mean, there’s one thing to be like ‘Oh why play a drop shot…’ but then I think about how many points I won off the drop shot”, said Gauff in her post-match conference. “So it’s like, yes, people who don’t watch tennis are gonna be like ‘why did you do that?’ But at the end of the day… that’s the choice I made. Was it the right one in that moment? Maybe not. But also if I make it, everyone’s gonna say how clutch of a shot that was. That’s just tennis.”

Despite losing the match after a costly miss, Gauff remained optimistic about her campaign at SW19 this year, as the American reached the semifinals from a position where she could well have been knocked out in the second round.

Coco Gauff Does Not Get Down After Her Heartbreaking Wimbledon Loss

Coming into this year, Wimbledon remained the only Major where Gauff had not gone past the fourth round. The trend seemed to repeat itself this time as well, when the American was down 3-5 in the third set against Solana Sierra in the second round, and then was 4-7 down in the ten-point tiebreak. However, showing her well-known resilience and ability to dig deep, she found a way to win the match, as she alluded to after her loss to Muchova.

“I mean, as painful as it is from the outside. I was down 7-4 in the second round, and I’m here in the semis”, said Gauff during her press conference. “Someone had to lose, and unfortunately, it was me today.”

Gauff had to battle through her other matches as well, winning her matches against Belinda Bencic and Jessica Pegula after losing the first set. Against Bencic, Gauff played an aggressive style of tennis, aiming to win before the Wimbledon curfew. Against Pegula, she showed her composure and her tennis awareness to outmaneuver a better grass-court player than her.

On the other hand, Coco Gauff struggled with her serve even after working with biomechanics coach Gavin MacMillan. She brought him onto her coaching team to fix her persistent serving issues and streamline her mechanics, following his success working with Aryna Sabalenka.

However, Gauff still faces a challenge while playing on faster surfaces, but this run will give her a lot of confidence as her serve held well under pressure, and the American also showed how good she was at the net, including some variety in her shots, using slices and drop shots, something that might serve her well during the North American hard court swing.