Coco Gauff: Rising Star in American Tennis – US Open Finalist and World Ranking

America will have its finalist. Coco Gauff has grown up. At 19 years and 4 months she won her first final at the US Open. In New York. It may be the crisp air of the Big Apple, its magic, but Coco (6-4, 7-5 to Karolina Muchova) will probably be the only Stars and Stripes athlete to compete for the title. It could have been a great women’s celebration, if Madison Keys, revived, had not suffered the furious comeback of Aryna Sabalenka, who wanted to repeat and equal the record of Martina Trevisan, the first in history to win a Slam by recovering from a lost first set 6-0 (against Putintseva, then prevailing with two tie-breaks), replicating exactly the same score: 0-6, 7-6, 7-6.

Coco day remains, however. So awaited, so announced that today Coco Gauff seems like a veteran, indeed: one might say “but where did she go?”. But, as we know, growth involves ups and downs and the Barilla girl (who with his long eye had put her under contract), the girl who entered the magic circle of Federer and his entourage, therefore seems to have reached a balance. Unless, as mentioned, it is the New York effect for American tennis players.

We remember her in 2019, when she reached the round of 16 at Wimbledon. She was fifteen, she became the youngest ever to qualify and beat one of her muses, Venus Williams. Her consequences were immediate: Vogue immediately dedicated features and covers to her, the world discovered the heir of the Williams sisters, Michelel Obama anointed her without a second thought. Quite a burden for a fifteen year old, don’t you think?

So other good results followed, but not a real boom. Not the Slams, nor the other important tournaments. Luckily the parents posed the problem of not wanting to see their daughter burned by the system, trying to protect her in her choice, even though we are talking about a little girl who – at ten years old – calmly declared that she wanted to become number one in the world ( Patrick Mouratoglou dixit).

Well, with the final reached at the US Open, Coco (her real name is Cori) became number five in the world. If she triumphs against Sabalenka, she will become number three. That dream is getting closer.

2023-09-09 00:29:21
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