Coco Gauff breaks down as US Open star emotionally reacts to Noami Osaka thumping

Coco Gauff admitted she "broke down" to her team after suffering a bruising 6-3 6-2 defeat to Naomi Osaka at the US Open. The No. 3 seed hit 33 unforced errors and didn't create a single break point opportunity during the 64-minute thumping, and swiftly left the Arthur Ashe Stadium.

The 2023 champion let her emotions out once she stepped off the court, venting to her coaching camp. And she already has a renewed outlook on her loss and her run in Flushing Meadows this year.

It's been an emotionally draining tournament for Gauff, who burst into tears during her second-round match against Donna Vekic last week, and cried again during the on-court interview. She later admitted she'd been having a panic attack.

After a disappointing defeat to Osaka, the 21-year-old had an emotional moment with her team before gaining some perspective on her run to the fourt round.

"After the match, I was really disappointed. Kind of broke down to my team," Gauff explained.

"Then hearing their perspectives and everything, it definitely is a lot of positive things. I think if I kept the way I was going in Cincinnati to here, I would have been out in the first round. So I think where my serve started from the start of the tournament to today was a big improvement.

"I feel like now I just have to get everything to work together. But, yeah, I knew going in it was going to be a tough tournament for me.

"Did I feel like I had a lot of confidence after my last match? Yeah, definitely. I think that was a big confidence booster. So today feels more disappointing I think than maybe it would have felt losing in the first or second round."

Gauff has been struggling on serve throughout the tournament. Against Osaka, she hit three aces to five double faults, but she still felt she had improved. Instead, the American thought the issue was her groundstrokes.

She explained: "Naomi played well. Today was, like, disappointing, because I felt it was the best I served all tournament. A lot of aces. Yeah, there were some doubles, but I thought, like, that was a good performance from me serving.

"Off the ground, I think I just made way too many mistakes, way too many errors, which I feel like that's the part of my game that I felt the most confident in coming into the tournament. So it was kind of a weird match, like, feeling confident in different areas swapping.

"Yeah, I mean, it's disappointing. For sure it was not the level that I wanted to bring, but it is a step in the right direction I feel, and I think emotionally how much this week was, I think today I just stepped in, and I maybe was a little bit empty. She forced me to earn every point out there today."

Gauff will now have a training block with her new coach, Gavin Macmillan, before playing the WTA 1000 in Beijing - where she is the defending champion - which kicks off on September 24.

"I've said this every year. After the US Open, for me, it's just improvement mode to get ready for Australia," she said.

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