MIAMI, Fla. — Coco Gauff is feeling optimistic about competing at the Miami Open presented by Itau after a nerve issue in her arm forced her to retire at the BNP Paribas Open earlier this month.
In Indian Wells, Gauff faced Alexandra Eala in the third round and received medical treatment for sharp pain in her left arm. She was trailing 6-2, 2-0 when she was unable to continue—just the second retirement of her career.
Gauff described the pain as initially feeling like “a firework was going off inside my arm,” and eventually like her “whole arm… was on fire.” In statements provided to the tournament at the time, she said it was “probably something nerve related,” a feeling later validated by an MRI scan.
“It was a nerve thing, like I said immediately after the match,” Gauff confirmed in Miami during a pre-tournament roundtable.
“Every day is different,” she added. “But for the most part I’ll be fine playing this tournament. I may feel it sometimes on court, but I definitely feel it less and less every day, if that makes sense.”
Gauff was in good spirits on Tuesday. The two-time Grand Slam champion laughed as she described the experience of undergoing the scan on her arm—her first time inside an MRI machine.
“I feel like that’s what (being in) a coffin would feel like,” she told press. “It was very weird, it felt claustrophobic. I definitely don’t want to go for one of those again.”
Gauff said she initially considered skipping the tournament altogether, but ultimately decided to play because of her South Florida roots.
“The goal was to play this tournament,” she said. “There was a thought of skipping it. I think if it wasn’t Miami I would probably skip this tournament. But the fact that it is, I really wanted to play here.”