Coco Gauff retired from her third-round match at Indian Wells on Sunday due to a troubling left arm injury that she described as feeling "like it was on fire," though she remains hopeful about being ready for Miami.
The 21-year-old world No. 4 was down 6-2, 2-0 to Alexandra Eala when she called it quits, sending the rising Philippine star into the last 16.
“I felt it from the second game of the first set,” Gauff said. “It was like a firework going off inside my arm, and then my whole arm felt like it was on fire.”
She added that the pain worsened as the match went on, even on shots that didn’t involve her left arm, a key component of her usually lethal two-handed backhand.
“It was a scary feeling,” Gauff admitted. She said she would undergo an MRI to confirm what doctors suspect is a nerve-related issue.
“The good news is they don’t think it will be long-term, so I should be fine for Miami,” she said, looking ahead to the next stop on the WTA and ATP Sunshine Double following Indian Wells.
It’s only the second time Gauff has retired during a match, the first coming in 2022 against Marie Bouzkova in Cincinnati.
"I’d rather finish the match and lose 6-0, but at that point I just felt that because the pain was getting worse and I didn’t know what was going on, it was better to stop," she said.
Gauff was trailing 5-2 in the first set when she took a medical timeout for treatment on her arm.
A trainer worked on Gauff's shoulder and arm, and after she was broken in the final game of the opening set, returned to wrap her forearm.
It was to no avail, and Gauff went to the net and told Eala she was retiring after 54 minutes.
“No one likes winning like that, and no one likes losing like that,” Eala said.
“Nevertheless, I’m really happy with how I played,” added Eala, who was trounced 6-0, 6-2 by Gauff in the quarterfinals at Dubai last month.
“I’m really happy with my performance, and I hope I can make the best out of the momentum,” added the 31st seed, who will face Czech Linda Noskova for a place in the quarterfinals.
Eala, 20, shot to prominence last year with a surprise semifinal run at the Miami Open, where she beat Iga Swiatek and Madison Keys.
At the U.S. Open in August, she became the first player from the Philippines to win a Grand Slam singles match.
She fell in the first round at the Australian Open, but her adoring fans created a sensation in Melbourne, mobbing her practice sessions as well as her first-ever main-draw match at the event.
