If Gauff, 19 years old and ranked sixth, wins, she will become the youngest American to win the Flushing Meadows title since Serena Williams in 1999.
But Sabalenka (25 years old) hopes to end the season of major tournaments as she began it with a crown in Melbourne, Australia, when she won her only Grand Slam title.
Sabalenka was the most consistent player this season among elite tennis players, reaching the last four in the Grand Slam tournaments and the final twice.
Her results allowed her to climb the rankings of professional women’s players and surpass Poland’s Iga Szwiłtek in the next rankings, after the latter’s exit from the quarter-finals of Flushing Meadows.
Sabalenka, who lost twice in the semi-finals in New York in 2021 and 2022 and in Wimbledon in 2021, believes that her coronation in Melbourne gives her a psychological advantage.
“I will be different in this final, because I anticipate the emotions that I will experience,” said the powerful forehander.
“magical”
Between frustration and nervousness, she realizes that she overtook American Madison Keys in a “magical” way in the semi-finals, after losing the first set 0-6.
She overcame a difficult psychological barrier, because she defeated a player supported by 24,000 spectators in the stands of Arthur Ass Stadium.
The circumstances on Saturday evening in New York will be similar and more terrifying, in front of fans who want Gave to inherit the legend Serena Williams.
“I would have preferred to face a player who was not supported by the entire crowd, but the semi-finals will help me in that sense,” Sabalenka said with a smile. “Even if I hope that some of the crowd will support me from time to time, please.”
The soon-to-be first-ranked player defeated Gauff last spring in the American tournament in Indian Wells, but she believes that the American has advanced a lot since that time.
Proof of this is that she won the Washington and Cincinnati titles in August, before coming to New York.
The American player leads 3-2 in direct confrontations, but this match will be the first between them in a major tournament.
“sudden effect”
Sabalenka explains her young opponent’s style of play: “She moves well, she is hungry, she has nothing to lose and she knows the audience will be with her.”
But Gauff may bear the pressure of winning the first major title in her career, which will have a different flavor on home soil.
She has experience in major finals, having reached the decisive match at Roland Garros in 2022.
Gauff says that in Paris last year she felt “a sudden impact during the tournament. I did not believe in my ability to beat Iga (Schiwontek), who had been on a winning streak.”
In New York this year, she is more pragmatic. “I am focusing more on myself and my personal aspirations.”
Expectations have been high since her appearance at Wimbledon 2019, where she reached the final eight at the age of fifteen, after eliminating her compatriot Venus Williams in the first round.
“I don’t go on social media, I don’t listen to people who think I can do it, or who doubt me,” Gove adds.
She continued, “No matter what happens on Saturday, I am proud of what I have achieved in the past weeks,” explaining that she now has the “maturity and ability” to lift the title on Saturday.
2023-09-09 08:09:05
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