Wimbledon 2025: Coco Gauff hopes to rely on advice from Alcaraz to win rare ‘Channel Slam’

Fresh off her French Open title run, Coco Gauff has an opportunity to achieve something no woman has in tennis for the past decade – that is, pulling off the ‘Channel Slam’.

Winning Roland Garros and Wimbledon back-to-back in the same season has been a relatively rare occurrence on the women’s tour, with Serena Williams being the last to accomplish that feat back in 2015.

The swift transition from clay to grass that comes around every June on the professional circuit can be tricky to navigate.

And as Gauff attempts to follow up her success in Paris with victory in south-west London, the American joked that she perhaps should get some advice from Spanish star Carlos Alcaraz, who clinched the Roland Garros-Wimbledon double last year and is going for a second one this fortnight.

“Oh, that would be hard,” Gauff said when asked about the possibility of completing the Channel Slam – a term used to describe that particular double. 

“I understand why it hasn't been done that often. Except I guess Carlos, he makes it look pretty easy. Novak [Djokovic], too. I didn't realise it was 10 years since Serena.

“It is a quick turnaround. I think that's the reason why this kind of double is so hard: it's a quick turnaround. You go from winning such a high tournament and kind of having to be back to work, not even a few days later.”

Only three weeks separate Wimbledon from Roland Garros, which for some can be a challenging stretch.

For Alcaraz, it was enough for him to head to Ibiza for a few days to celebrate his French Open success, then fly to London to compete for and win the title at Queen’s Club, before shifting his focus to Wimbledon.

Last year, a stop in Ibiza was also sandwiched between his two major triumphs.

“I saw he was in Ibiza. I went home,” said Gauff, who made several appearances on the biggest American talk shows back home before she flew back to Europe to compete in a grass-court warmup tournament in Berlin.

“Next year, I was like, if I were to do that again, maybe I should stay on this side of the world and have fun instead of going back to the U.S.

“Maybe I'll talk to him about it. I'll need to know exactly what he ate, exactly what he drank, and how late he went to bed each night. Yeah, I'll have a conversation with him about how those three days went,” Gauff added with a laugh.

The world No.2 said she would “love to” back up her Roland Garros win by claiming a maiden Wimbledon crown, but “also, I'm not going to put that much pressure on myself because I've been telling my team and people around me, this is all new territory for me.

“Even with debating on playing Berlin and stuff, I was, like, I'm just going to learn as I go. Maybe if I were to win again, I probably wouldn't make that decision again.

“This is very much new territory. I'm trying to take it as I go. If I were to end up there, it would be great. If not, I'll try to come up with a better way to prepare for this tournament next year.”

Gauff now owns two Grand Slam titles – the 2023 US Open and 2025 Roland Garros – and she’s only 21 years old.