At 19, the American beat Sabalenka 2-6, 6-3, 6-2
The US Open is his first major
USA has had several teenage tennis championsincluding the queen who would later come to sit on the world throne and the history of sports; Serena Williams. This Saturday, a new name has been added to the list: Coco Gauff.
At 19 years old, in his first final in New York and second Grand Slam After Roland Garros in 2022, Gauff has inaugurated his record of greats at home, with the United States Open. And he has done it neither more nor less than by imposing himself 2-6, 6-3 and 6-2 to Aryna Sabalenka, the winner this year in Australia and the player who will dawn on Monday like number 1 in the world.
Gauff fell to the ground when, on her first match point, she surpassed everything the Belarusian sent her in another rally and saw Sabalenka’s blow go too long. And he knelt, andI cried, like a girllike what it almost is, before going up to the stands to melt into a hug with his parents, athletes.
A new dimension
With the triumph Gauff, currently number 6, will also wake up on Monday at the number 3, three million dollars richer, and in a new dimension. Because this tournament has confirmed what she had been predicting since she beat Venus Williams at Wimbledon at the age of 15.
His meteoric rise has come with the same speed with which he runs down the track. Because Gauff, who just before Wimbledon began working with the Catalan Pere Riba and after an early exit from the tournament also added Brad Gilbert to his team as an advisor, is today one of the fastest and fittest athletes on the circuit.
But the work of Gauff, the daughter of athletes, matures and socially and politically awareIt has also been mental. She has decided enjoy and not get caught up in the pressure. And it is a growth and a philosophy that you are going to need. Because in Arthur Ashe, this Saturday, a star was born. And the US is hungry for a queen.