NEW YORK — When Coco Gauff referred to her critics as motivation during her journey to winning the U.S. Open a year ago, it seemed somewhat exaggerated.

The true story of Gauff’s path was never about faceless social media negativity that many young people seek to validate themselves against. In reality, Gauff emerged from a supportive tennis environment that recognized her potential as early as age 10. With prestigious training programs vying for her and companies offering lucrative sponsorships, insiders in the sport had little doubt that her Grand Slam victory was simply a matter of time.

However, her recent 6-3, 4-6, 6-3 loss to Emma Navarro on Sunday, which cut short her title defense in the fourth round of the U.S. Open, marks a significant moment in her career and rise as America’s most prominent tennis player.

For the first time, genuine questions about her abilities may be on the rise.

“It’s disappointing since I’m aiming for even greater heights,” Gauff remarked on Sunday. “But I won’t dwell on it or think, ‘Oh, this is terrible.’”

She shouldn’t be too harsh on herself. At only 20 years old, Gauff has ample time to achieve remarkable things in tennis. Her mantra heading into the U.S. Open was that her past achievements cannot be taken away and that she will have plenty more chances to win Grand Slam titles in the future. This perspective is both smart and accurate in easing the pressure she might have felt returning to the site of her most significant victory.

But Gauff has enough experience now, having reached the later stages of major tournaments multiple times, to set high expectations and critically evaluate her performance issues.

Looking at the stats: While Gauff made it to the semifinals of both the Australian Open and French Open—performances that could be seen as successes—she has a record of 7-12 this season against top 30 players. After beginning the year with a title in Auckland, she hasn’t made it to another final. Although she has three wins over top-10 players this year, two of those victories came against a declining Ons Jabeur, who has now dropped to No. 22. Gauff also exits New York ranked outside the top five for the first time in quite a while.

In summary, this year has mostly been a decline for her—a clear fact. For someone who once aimed for the kind of achievements Serena Williams accomplished, this is not the direction she should be heading at just 20 years old.

“This isn’t the summer I envisioned,” Gauff admitted. “But there are like 70 other players who would be thrilled to have my summer. Many aspire to make it to the fourth round, many want to compete in the Olympics, so it’s important to maintain perspective.

“I expect more from myself, but ultimately, what happened, happened, and I know I can turn this around.”

So, what went wrong, and what lies ahead?

A year ago, during her remarkable title run, Gauff revamped her coaching team after Wimbledon, bringing in Pere Riba and the influential Brad Gilbert, known for his ESPN commentary. However, Riba left last December to coach Zheng Qinwen, and Gauff subsequently hired Felipe Ramirez as his replacement.

Whether Gauff continues with this coaching arrangement or seeks changes, her year has been characterized by inconsistent serving and blowing leads while her forehand has remained a weak point—ironically, an area she began to improve last year.

As she entered the U.S. Open, Gauff had double faulted 256 times, ranking fifth in the WTA. In her match against Navarro, she totaled 19 double faults, several occurring during critical moments when the match was on the line. She admitted that she needs to closely examine her serving problems as she looks toward 2025.

“It’s a mental hurdle I need to overcome, but I want to explore everything else too, as I don’t want to keep losing matches like this,” she commented.

Gauff also recorded 60 unforced errors on Sunday, frequently losing baseline rallies due to her strokes breaking down against Navarro’s reliable return and ability to redirect pace. Navarro managed to win 34 out of 54 rallies that had five or more shots in them.

Interestingly, in her press conference, Gauff did not commit to a specific tournament schedule for the rest of the year. While she is expected to compete in some high-stakes fall events in Asia and is likely to qualify for the end-of-year WTA championships in Saudi Arabia, she made it clear that she needs to spend time on the practice court to tackle her current issues.

Perhaps it’s time for a brief reset.

“I feel the need for a solid training period,” she stated. “I haven’t had a proper one since before the clay season. For my long-term goals, I want to focus on training and will see how many tournaments I participate in for the remainder of the year.”

Even at just 20 years old, Gauff has reached a stage in her career where her own standards are what truly matter. The truth is, she has not quite met those standards, at least for now. For the first time, real doubts may surface, curiosity about whether her performance last year during the U.S. Open was an anomaly rather than the standard expected of her.

Gauff is a significant presence in women’s tennis and has several years ahead of her before reaching her anticipated physical peak. While she entered the tour with some technical issues in her serve and forehand, which she hasn’t completely fixed, it’s possible that these fluctuations in performance are just part of her journey.

Now that this phase of her career has concluded, Gauff no longer needs to stress about being the defending champion. As she approaches 2025, she will start fresh with less pressure. It’s hoped that she can seize this chance to thrive.