Coco Gauff demonstrates her match management skills in Roland Garros win over Rebecca Marino

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By now, four years into Coco Gauff’s pro career, tennis aficionados are likely familiar with the great things she can do with a racquet. These include a powerful backhand, terrific movement, many a crackling first serve. But perhaps Gauff’s greatest asset is something that doesn’t involve the racquet: match management. This was the asset that carried Gauff to a 7-5, 6-0 first-round victory Sunday over qualifier Rebecca Marino at Roland Garros.

“Yeah, the first set I was obviously very nervous coming in,” said Gauff. “The past two years I played qualifiers first round, which for me is always a difficult first round because they have three matches and especially playing against Rebecca who can hit some great shots and I think I just found my rhythm more towards the second set.”

Ranked as high as 38 in the world in 2011, Marino was playing her first main-draw match here since that year. From 2013 to 2018, Marino took time away from tennis to address challenges related to depression and cyber bullying, topics she has publicly spoken about frequently and thoughtfully. Ranked 282 at the end of 2020, Marino is now up to 115.

Marino commenced the match hitting lasers off both sides—hard, flat drives that pierced the court with depth and accuracy. In the opening game, Marino broke Gauff at 15. Four games later, Gauff served at 2-all. Marino took a love-40 lead and over the course of this game would hold eight break points, many earned by Gauff’s five double-faults. On one of the break points, Gauff lasered an untouchable crosscourt backhand. Other times, Marino’s forehand betrayed her.

Gauff held and took a 5-2 lead, seemingly on course to break open the match. But Marino persevered, even saving three set points when Gauff served at 5-3, 40-15. Marino broke back and soon Gauff served at 5-5, 15-30. Here again, Marino’s forehand misfired, an inside-out return going well wide. Gauff held. With Marino serving at 5-6, 30-40, Gauff hit one of her best forehands of the match, an inside-out winner.

Gauff’s first set win vividly demonstrated her match management skills. She has a superb ability to harness and deploy her energy through all the ebbs and flows of a match—that is, to stay tranquil through adversity and take charge when openings present themselves. True to that mix of poise and opportunism, with Marino serving at 30-love in the first game of the second set, Gauff won four straight points to break serve and conclusively snap open the match.

At this stage, Gauff was given a soft warning for coaching – the first time this has ever happened to her -- by chair umpire Marijana Veljovic. As she changed sides, Gauff spoke calmly to Veljovic. “Yeah, I think well she was saying that my dad was showing signals, but for me I was explaining to her that me and my dad have no signals [for] anything,” said Gauff. “Like, countless times after the match I just tell him just to say nothing. So even when there's coaching allowed I tell him, Don't say anything to me. . . But at the end of the day, she was just doing her job and then I was just doing my job I guess as a player and defending my integrity. So for me it was just funny, because I have had so many conversations with my dad that when there's coaching allowed I tell him, 'Don't say anything.' So that's kind of why I was laughing a little bit in that conversation.”

By this stage, Marino had little more to offer. She’d revealed her entire arsenal in the first ten games of the match. Gauff had weathered the storm, fought though her own bad patches and was soon in control. By the time it was over, Gauff had made 16 unforced errors, Marino 40.

“I was trying to keep those unforced errors down,” said Marino. “I know she was starting to hit higher loopier balls to my backhand and I was trying to take that early as much as possible. But the unforced errors were coming and kudos to her for playing a little bit smarter and changing her tactics.”

For all the hours I’ve spent talking with tennis instructors, parents and players, I’ve rarely heard one offer insights into match management. Are instructors too smitten with stroke production? Can what Gauff does so well indeed be taught? For as she proved today, there’s no question it can be studied.