How Coco Gauff was inspired by Iga Swiatek after 'writing off' Wimbledon chances having reached semi-final for first time
Updated 08/07/2026 at 07:39 GMT+1
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Coco Gauff says seeing Iga Swiatek win Wimbledon in 2025 gave her belief that she could also contend at the grass Grand Slam, having "written off" her chances before the tournament. Two-time major champion Gauff had never made it past the fourth round at Wimbledon before this year's tournament and had lost her previous four straight grass matches.
Highlights: Djokovic, Gauff dig deep as Sinner races through to semi-finals
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But she fought back from a set down to topple Pegula and become the seventh active player to make the semis or better at all four Grand Slams.
Gauff said that seeing Swiatek, who had previously enjoyed most of her success on clay, win Wimbledon last year helped boost her own confidence on grass.
”Definitely seeing her win gave me more belief, because we do have similar game styles, especially on the forehand wing," said Gauff. "It definitely gave me more belief.”
Gauff will play Karolina Muchova in the last four after she beat four-time Grand Slam winner Naomi Osaka in straight sets.
The American said that she had been "writing off" her chances at Wimbledon this year, but now hopes it is her "destiny" to be crowned champion.
"I mean, I'm a believer in God and everything. I do feel like in a way the story is already written. But is Wimbledon part of my story? I don't know. I can't tell you.
"I do think there are some matches where I play where I feel like it was a bit of destiny. One of them was my final of the US Open. I still don't remember the match. I feel like I genuinely blacked out during that match. I can only remember one point really clearly and it wasn't even match point.
"I think there are moments where I play, it's like no matter what happens, today I'm going to win. But do I feel like Wimbledon is part of my destiny? If you asked me seven days ago, the answer would have been no. Honestly, I was writing it off a little bit.
"But I hope it is part of my destiny, whether it's this year or in the future. I definitely would love to see my name on the champions wall, for sure."
Gauff has already won major titles on clay and hard courts at the French Open and US Open but says she feels she has now made a "breakthrough" at Wimbledon.
"I think I'm able to relax a bit because, I don't know, I just feel regardless of how the rest of this tournament goes, I really think I've found a bit of a breakthrough on grass.
"Regardless of how it goes, I think I'm just proud of myself. Obviously I'm not satisfied, I want to go all the way. Also, at the same time, I'm just looking at the match in front of me and just trying to keep doing better each point.
"I’ve played three opponents in a row where I feel like they are really tough opponents in general, but especially for me on grass. I felt like in the first set I was maybe rushing out of some points too early, either trying to either get out of the rally or overhit too much.
"Towards the end, I just really honed in on my game and realised I don't have to play a spectacular point every time to win, even though there were some spectacular points.
"I think just trusting myself, trusting that my groundstrokes are good enough to be with anyone on this surface. I think my last match against Belinda [Bencic] showed that. Obviously today against Jess I think showed that, as well."
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