Tennis super talent Coco Gauff was a child with her father watching the tennis skills of the Williams siblings at the US Open. Now he is the winner of the tournament at the age of 19.
Joel Sippola,
STT Sports
US 19-year-old tennis talent Coco Gauff won the first Grand Slam title of his career by defeating the Belarusian in his home tournament in the United States Aryna Sabalenkan. Gauff had the better score 2–6, 6–3, 6–2.
The American born in 2004 was in the Grand Slam final for the second time. Last year, he lost to the Polish star in the final of the French Open For Iga Swiatek.
– This means so much to me. I’m a bit shocked at the moment, Gauff told his latest thoughts about his victory in the field interview after the match.
– That loss at the French Open was a hard blow for me. It makes this moment even more amazing than I could have imagined,” Gauff added.
In his victory speech, Gauff eloquently thanked his family.
– Today I saw my father cry for the first time. He doesn’t want me to tell you that, Gauff chuckled.
– Thank you. You have believed in me since the beginning, he thanked his family.
Gauff is the first American winner at the US Open in six years. In 2017 Sloane Stephens took the Americans in a mutual showdown Madison Keys against with a score of 6–3, 6–0.
Before him, a tennis legend Serena Williams celebrated the championship on his home field six times and sister Venus Williams twice.
– My age brought me to this tournament once to watch when Venus and Serena played. It’s incredible to be on this stage now, Gauff beamed.
Super talent
Gauff became the tenth player in women’s singles to win the US Open under the age of 20.
Known as a super talent, Gauff came to the attention of the tennis world at the latest at the 2019 Wimbledon tennis tournament. The then 15-year-old promise defeated Serena Williams herself in the opening round.
A year earlier, she had won the French Open girls’ singles championship at just 14 years old.
However, the road to becoming a Grand Slam winner does not happen in an instant. Gauff has admitted that stepping into the spotlight at a very young age brought pressure.
– People put a lot of pressure on me to win. I felt like I was 15 and I had to win a Grand Slam at 15.
– It felt like I had a time limit to win the first time, and if I won one after that time limit, it wouldn’t be an achievement, Gauff said Reuters by.
A nod to the critics
This year, Gauff has gotten his life back on track. At the Wimbledon tennis tournament, he suffered an opening round defeat For Sofia Keninbut has since won 18 of their previous 19 matches.
He currently has the longest winning streak of his career, 12 games long.
Even recently, he has still received criticism. In his speech, the 19-year-old champion also thanked his doubters.
– A month ago I won the WTA 500 tournament and people said that I would stop there. Two weeks ago I won the WTA 1,000 title and people said it was the biggest win I could get.
– Three weeks later I am here with this trophy. Those who thought they put water on the fire really added gas to it and now it burns so brightly, Gauff snapped.
Sabalenka, who lost the final, won the Australian Open earlier this year. Despite the loss, the 25-year-old player will become number one in the world rankings, passing Swiatek, who held the top spot.
In the men’s singles final, they will face Serbia Novak Djokovic and Russian Daniil Medvedev. Djokovic has won the US tournament three times and Medvedev once.
Updated 8.52: Added Gauff’s comments and edited the title.