Coco Gauff says she's playing her best tennis at the US Open because she's finding joy in the sport again

• Coco Gauff is headed to the fourth round of the 2023 US Open, matching her best result at the Slam.
• The 19-year-old American credits her stellar play to a more relaxed and joyful mindset on the court.
• "I'm really just enjoying the process of having a tennis career, the ups and downs," Gauff told Insider.

NEW YORK — Coco Gauff is playing the best tennis of her career.

And, crucially, she's having fun doing it.

The 19-year-old American has blazed through her segment of the 2023 US Open women's singles draw. She took down German qualifier Laura Siegemund, Russian teen Mirra Andreeva, world No. 32 Elise Mertens, and former world No. 1 Caroline Wozniacki en route to the quarterfinals, matching her best-ever result at her home Grand Slam.

But it's a lack of emphasis on those results that she credits for her stellar play so far in Flushing Meadows.

"I feel confident in my preparation, and I feel confident in my execution," Gauff told Insider. "I hope everything works out. At the same time, I'm not too worried if it doesn't."

"I'm really just enjoying the process of having a tennis career, the ups and downs," she added with a smile. "I know I'm up right now, and I know I'm going to experience a down. Hopefully not this week, but it could happen."

The Florida native headed to New York City at the end of August having won two of her four career WTA singles titles that same month. At the Citi Open, she beat a trio of top-20 players on her way to hoisting the trophy. Later, at the Cincinnati Masters, she took down world No. 1 Iga Swiatek in a thrilling three-set semifinal before besting then-No. 17 Karolína Muchová in a straight-set final.

Two new faces — Pere Riba and Brad Gilbert — joined Gauff's player box earlier in the summer, and the pair helped catalyze a shift in perspective that allows her to play more freely. Gilbert, in particular, is apt to "say something completely random" while the teen is practicing, offering her some levity in moments when she might otherwise succumb to the pressure.

"It's just little things like that that made me realize that tennis is serious, but it's not as serious as sometimes my head makes it out to be," Gauff said. "I really should enjoy it out there."

"I have a lot of joy in me but I just seem to bottle it up when I play," she added. "Now I'm really just having fun and laughing and smiling, and I think it's making tennis more enjoyable."

Gauff seems to be competing like she has nothing to lose, returning to the carefree brand of tennis she played when, at just 15 years old, she upset seven-time Grand Slam champion Venus Williams in the first round of Wimbledon. With millions of dollars in endorsements invested in her success and tens of thousands of fans flocking to her matches, Gauff started to feel an undue pressure to perform.

That pressure sapped much of the fun from the sport she loved. Realizing that perfection is unattainable and failure is inevitable is, in Gauff's words, "really where the mindset has changed."

"I realize that everybody loses, even the best of the best," she said. "I think that I really have to apply those mistakes and learn from those mistakes and apply it into future matches."

"Before I would think too much on a loss and let that loss affect me for some weeks," Gauff added. "Now I'm just doing really well bouncing back."

The change is palpable, not just on the scoreboard but in her energy and demeanor on the court. Even Miami Heat superstar Jimmy Butler, a tennis enthusiast who has fostered a friendship with Gauff, apparently noticed the difference.

During practices ahead of the US Open, Gauff said Butler told her mom that "he can really see the joy in me again in playing and enjoying the competition." She noted that she admires the way the six-time NBA All-Star's "mentality makes his game even better."

"You have people that are talented and don't have the mentality — I think he has the talent and the mentality," Gauff said. "It's just taking him even further. That's something I learned from."

"And honestly, that's part of the reason for that switch I had in the last couple weeks," she added. "People think some incredible thing happened, but realistically between two weeks or between Wimbledon and the next tournament I played, nothing could have really changed that much. It was really just the mental thing."