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Gauff is no longer the wide-eyed 15-year-old who made her
Wimbledon debut three years ago. She is not only physically
stronger now but much wiser, as shown by her insightful
post-match interviews in her run to this year's French Open
final.
Now 12th in the women's rankings, she is acutely aware of her
ability to harness the spotlight and use it to highlight
off-court issues that strike a chord, like the Supreme Court
overturning the landmark Roe v. Wade ruling.
"I play for myself but also at the same time I know there's
countless people watching me. I know I'm pretty active off the
court regarding issues like that," the 18-year-old said,
describing the decision as "unfair".
"It definitely does fuel me and motivates me to do even
better... People were saying, 'You need to shut up and focus on
tennis, blah, blah, blah.'
"Yeah, I like to win just to put that in their faces."
Gauff, who dropped the opening set in her first-round win over
Elena-Gabriela Ruse, next plays another Romanian - Mihaela
Buzarnescu - and said she is acutely aware of not letting her
emotions get the better of her when the chips are down.
"When I'm down in those moments, and I was definitely fighting
some inner demons in that match, I think that's what inspires
me," Gauff said.
"I want the crowd to know that I'm a fighter. I want the
opponent and the opponents that are watching me to know that I'm
a fighter."
Meanwhile, Rafa Nadal seems to have put his chronic foot injury
issues behind him but is still cautious after playing on grass
for the first time in three years, saying "every victory helps"
ahead of his second round match with Ricardas Berankis.
"(I must) be humble enough to accept the challenge, accept that
the situation will not be perfect for the moment," he said.
"But with the things I have, I need to find a way to keep going.
Because every day that I am able to survive there are much
bigger chances that I start playing at much higher level."
Local favourite Emma Raducanu may be out but there are several
Britons left in the draw, with Katie Boulter looking to use the
energy of the Centre Court crowd in her match against sixth seed
Karolina Pliskova, 111 higher in the rankings.
"I feel like everyone's pushing themselves, almost just spurring
each other on with the little bit of magic that's going on in
British tennis right now," Boulter said.
"I feel like I'm catching a little bit of it and I hope that I
can push other people with that."
(Reporting by Rohith Nair in Bengaluru; Editing by Ken Ferris)
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