Coco Gauff wins U.S. Open at age 19, her first Grand Slam title in sport

Coco Gauff put aside a lackluster start to win her first Grand Slam title at the age of 19, defeating Alina Saba 2-6, 6-3, 6-2 in the U.S. Open final on Saturday Lenka, a delight. The rowdy crowd was rowdy from start to finish.

Gauff, who is from Florida, is the first American teenager to win a major U.S. tennis championship since Serena Williams in 1999. If last year’s U.S. Open was just a farewell to Williams’ final appearance, this year’s two weeks in New York became “Welcome to the big time!” for Goff.

Since Gauff burst onto the scene as a 15-year-old, becoming the youngest qualifier in Wimbledon history and reaching the fourth round on her Grand Slam debut in 2019, this kind of victory has been something that, fairly or not, has been viewed against Gauff. expectations.

She reached her first Grand Slam final at last year’s French Open, finishing runner-up, and has now won the biggest trophy of her fledgling career. Gauff was riding a 12-game winning streak and her 18th in her last 19 games before a first-round exit at the All England Club in July.

Sixth-seeded Gauff did just that on Saturday, resisting the power of Sabalenka on nearly every swing of her racquet, eventually getting used to it and successfully catching the ball back. Gauff, who broke serve at just one such point in the third set, tracked every ball that hit her until finally hitting a volley that she pounded with her fist and screamed “Go for it!”

Soon, Gauff changed the score to 4-0. At 4-1, Sabalenka took a medical timeout during a left leg massage. Gauff stayed sharp by practicing some serves during the break – which lasted only a few minutes rather than the 50 minutes during the semi-final climate protest.

After the game restarted, Sabalenka broke serve and chased the score to 4-2. But Gauff immediately fought back and quickly secured the victory before falling flat on her back on the court. She quickly climbed into the stands, looking for her parents and others to hug.

“You did it!” Goff’s mother told her, both in tears.

Sabalenka has a 23-2 record in major events in 2023, including her first Grand Slam title at the Australian Open in January. The 25-year-old from Belarus is already set to move up from second to first in the WTA rankings for the first time next week.

But she was reduced to a foil role by fans. As so often happens when Americans play in the United States, Goff was by far the biggest supporter at the 23,000-capacity Arthur Ashe Stadium. Her pregame television interview played on the arena’s video screen but was drowned out by the applause and cheers echoing from the closed retractable roof.

Even in the early stages, Goff’s victory was celebrated as if the game was over. So did Sabalenka’s mistake. Her errors, especially double faults – six in total, three in the first two service games alone, plus a break in the second set – and assorted others, including one Over-the-shoulder misses and backhand volleys into the net, as well as seemingly much simpler forehand volleys.

By the end, Sabalenka had made 46 unforced errors, far more than twice Goff’s total of 19.

To put it into perspective: Goff only needed 13 game-winners to rack up 83 points on Saturday.

Sabalenka comes out and does what she does, almost regardless of the circumstances, surface or stakes: hit the ball as hard as she can, and accentuate it with a loud exhale.

That’s not to say that’s all she can do. One particular point in the second set showed that when Gauff hit a lob, Sabalenka chased it with her back to the net, then turned around and responded with a lob to win.

When everything about Sabalenka is tuned just right, it’s hard for any opponent to harness her power—even someone as fast, smart, and instinctive as Gauff, whose coverage covers every court, allowing her Maintained a score that few other players can match. Can be extended.

When Sabalenka missed her mark, she really missed her mark. After Saturday’s miss, she would often slap her thigh or look toward her entourage while muttering or shaking her head.

Neither player hit all the right notes early on, perhaps because of the contrast in their styles and the combination of Sabalenka’s stellar offense and Goff’s exemplary defense.

They broke serve early to level the match at 2, but Sabalenka then seized the next four games to take the set. During that stretch, there was one exciting moment that had the audience making noise before it was over. Gauff scrambled to try and get Sabalenka’s shot back to the net, including somehow deflecting an overhead shot on the run before a second unreachable overhead ball bounced off the ground and into the stands superior.

Sabalenka raised her left hand, waggled her fingers, and told the people in the stands to give her some love.

But soon Gauff was playing better, Sabalenka was off target more, and the love was lavished on just one of them, the sport’s newest Grand Slam champion.

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