The reigning French Open champion arrives at the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix with unfinished business
Coco Gauff has won a French Open title and climbed to world No. 3, but one modest goal has continued to elude her in Stuttgart: winning back-to-back matches. The American arrives at the 2026 Porsche Tennis Grand Prix hoping that changes this week, even as she acknowledges that the indoor clay-court event has never quite felt like home.
The tournament, a WTA 500 event held indoors in Stuttgart, occupies an unusual place in the clay season calendar. Most American players bypass it entirely, preferring to compete at the Charleston Open on green clay the week after Miami before heading to Europe for the Madrid Open, the Italian Open and Roland Garros. Gauff has consistently bucked that trend, committing to Stuttgart year after year despite results that have never gone beyond the quarterfinals and despite privately entertaining the idea of changing her approach.
Why Gauff keeps coming back to Stuttgart
Her loyalty to the tournament is rooted in a broader scheduling philosophy built entirely around one goal: arriving at Roland Garros in peak form. The clay stretch that begins in Stuttgart and runs through Paris has consistently delivered strong results for Gauff at the French Open specifically, and she has been reluctant to disrupt a routine that has served her well at the sport’s most important clay event even when individual stops along the way have been less rewarding.
Stuttgart’s indoor clay presents a particular challenge that Gauff has been candid about. The surface plays differently from the outdoor clay courts used at the rest of the European swing, running slippery in a way that makes movement and footing harder to calibrate. The indoor environment adds another layer of adjustment for a player more accustomed to that setting at the end of the year than in the spring. Gauff has described Stuttgart as the least comfortable clay tournament on her schedule, a characterization that speaks to why her results there have lagged behind what she produces at Roland Garros and other stops on the circuit.
There is a counterintuitive logic to her presence, however. Starting the European clay season at a venue that feels more demanding than those that follow it can serve as a form of preparation, making the subsequent weeks feel more familiar and manageable by comparison. Gauff drew a direct parallel to her experience at the Miami Open, a tournament where she had historically struggled before breaking through with a strong result, as evidence that her form at unfamiliar venues can turn around with the right mindset and preparation.
What to expect in her opening matches
Gauff enters Stuttgart as the second seed and received a bye directly into the round of 16, meaning she will not play until her match against world No. 21 Liudmila Samsonova. The Russian is a capable opponent on any surface, and getting past her would mark a meaningful first step toward the kind of deeper run Gauff has not yet managed at this event.
Should she advance from that match, a potential quarterfinal against seventh seed Karolina Muchova awaits, a player against whom Gauff holds a perfect head-to-head record. That matchup, if it materializes, would offer Gauff a favorable path to the semifinal stage, which would represent the deepest she has gone in Stuttgart and a genuine sign that her relationship with the tournament is beginning to shift.
The draw sets up reasonably well for a player motivated not by Stuttgart’s title alone but by the confidence and match sharpness a long run here could carry into the weeks ahead. For Gauff, everything between now and late May points in one direction, and Stuttgart is simply where the journey begins.
Source: Tennis365