Coco Gauff retires injured for only second time in her career against Alex Eala at Indian Wells

INDIAN WELLS, Calif. — Coco Gauff retired injured for just the second time in her career at the BNP Paribas Open, after sustaining an injury to her left arm against Alex Eala in the third round.

Gauff received medical treatment toward the end of the first set when down 5-2. A trainer massaged her left shoulder as well as her forearm; in between sets, they applied a compression bandage to Gauff’s left forearm.

By that time, Gauff had lost the opening set, and when Eala broke in the second game of the second set, Gauff walked to the net.

Eala did not notice initially, and the American leaned on the net before her opponent turned and walked forward to embrace her. Eala opened her on-court interview by thanking all the women who had paved the way in tennis on International Women’s Day, and Gauff for her own stature in the sport.

Gauff’s only other mid-match retirement was in 2022, against Marie Bouzková of the Czech Republic at the Cincinnati Open.

The injury to her left arm was particularly problematic against Eala, because of how Gauff’s strongest shot, her two-handed backhand, allows her to dominate left-handers. During the American’s issues with forehand consistency, her backhand has always been stable. Against Eala and other lefties, Gauff can use her backhand against their forehand crosscourt.

She can also loop her forehand down the line into their forehand, to set up that rally pattern; her forehand down the line is her most stable expression of that shot, especially when she uses heavy topspin or slice.

That was how she started quickly against Eala, but persistent double faults kept reeling her in. Gauff was hitting the ball aggressively on first and second serves, accelerating particularly on the latter. But her contact point and racket path were not giving her the topspin she needed to keep the ball in the service box, with most of her double faults flying long at over 100 mph.

Eala, who is into the fourth round at Indian Wells for the first time, adjusted well through the first set, asking Gauff to play her forehand crosscourt and throwing in drop shots as Gauff attempted to change pattern by going down the line.

Eala, the No. 31 seed, will face No. 14 seed Linda Nosková in her next match. Gauff will need to assess her injury ahead of the Miami Open, another WTA 1000 event which follows Indian Wells.

This article originally appeared in The Athletic.

Tennis, Women’s Tennis

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