Coco Gauff reveals hilarious tactic which inspired her to 2025 French Open final

Coco Gauff is through to the 2025 French Open final after a resounding semifinal victory over Lois Boisson, who reached the last four despite being ranked 361st in the world. And the American revealed she deployed a somewhat unique, and highly amusing, mental strategy to help her cruise past the home favorite.

Gauff gulps down Boisson at Roland-Garros

The American, a beaten finalist at Roland-Garros in 2022, took immediate control of the encounter, breaking Boisson in the first very game on the way to taking the first set 6-1.

The second set was almost as one-sided, with the young Frenchwoman, who had shocked worlds No. 3 Jessica Pegula and No. 6 Mirra Andreeva earlier in the tournament, running out of steam against her more illustrious opponent. Gauff broke serve twice in a 6-2 second set triumph, her victory taking a little more than an hour overall.

Coco Gauff chants her own name

The Atlanta native’s performance was made all the more impressive by the fact the Paris crowd was rooting firmly against her, as you would expect given the nationality of her opponent. But a laughing Gauff revealed in a post-match interview how she turned that into her favor.

“It’s my first time playing a French player here that I can remember. How did I manage? I was mentally prepared during the match that it was going to be 99% for her. But I just tried to block it out.

“Actually, when you guys were chanting her name, I was saying to myself my name! Just to kind of psyche myself up! You know, you have to do that!”

Who will Coco Gauff play in the 2025 French Open final?

Gauff will likely have considerably more backing in Saturday’s 2025 French Open final, when she takes on No. 1 seed Aryna Sabalenka, who defeated Iga Swiatek in straight sets earlier on Thursday. The American star is looking to double her Grand Slam tally having won the US Open in 2023.

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