Serena Williams bids emotional farewell to tennis at Flushing Meadows, one year later
Young American Coco Gauff dreams of starting her story at the U.S. Open, which starts on Monday.
The 19-year-old from Florida, who grew up idolizing Serena and Venus Williams, arrives in New York at the height of her powers to compete for her first Grand Slam title After a series of impressive results on this hard court tour.
Gauff won the WTA 500 event in Washington earlier this month and last weekend she lifted her first WTA 1000 trophy in Cincinnati.
In Cincinnati, she also defeated world No. 1 and current U.S. Open champion Iga Swiatek for the first time after seven defeats, including the 2022 French Open final.
Gauff’s stellar performance last month has seen her considered one of the favorites to win the final Grand Slam of the year.
AFP
Gauff has been one of the world’s greatest hopes ever since she reached the fourth round at Wimbledon as a 15-year-old just four years ago when she made a name for herself with a stellar career.
The American, currently ranked sixth in the WTA rankings, said her recent success is based on learning how to win, even if she isn’t playing her best tennis.
“I think that’s what makes a champion: how do you do it on the days when you don’t feel so good””, he declared after the win in Cincinnati.
Goff revealed that earlier this season she spent “a lot of nights crying at home” as she struggled to find her groove.
“It’s difficult for me because I know what I have to improve,” he said. “I went into training and worked hard. But it didn’t translate into games. I can still improve a lot.”
upward trajectory
If Gauff continues her upward trajectory over the next two weeks, she could follow in the footsteps of Williams sisters Sloane Stephens and Naomi Osaka and become the fifth black tennis player in the Open era to win the U.S. Open athlete.
Now that Serena Williams has left the stage, Gauff realizes that many consider her a great standard-bearer for the next generation of African-American tennis players.
It’s a responsibility the teenager willingly takes on, even if she doesn’t believe she can compare to Serena Williams. “This is something I don’t take lightly.”Gough said. “Sometimes I think it adds to the pressure because I know that this community, people of color, the black community look up to me so much.”
“Especially with Serena retiring, people think I’m the next leader in tennis or something like that”, he claimed. “But there’s a reason Serena is the greatest player of all time. I’m a part of ‘history,’ so I don’t know if I can get as far as she did. That’s the dream.”
“For me, it’s just about trying my best to be the best version of myself and be the best Coco I can be on and off the field.”he solved it.
Sixth-seeded Gauff’s path to the title in New York could present challenges, such as a new quarterfinal matchup with Swiatek. Elena Rybakina, the 2022 Wimbledon champion, is another figure in Gauff’s painting.