Coco Gauff, for life – Credits: @Frank Franklin II
He throws himself on the floor and cries uncontrollably. She’s a teenager, still. She leaves the racket and goes to greet her people, pure sympathy and emotion. New York burns, He is excited, delirious about a girl turned into a woman. Coco Gauff explodes with happiness with her family: nothing is more valuable in life. He made history. What is truly called history. His magnetism transcends tennis, sports.
Cell phones on the surface. Applause. There are people who cry, as if the victory had been theirs. The magic of Arthur Ashe Stadium, with so many figures in the show, she takes it. Her hands, her legs. The magic of her skills. Alone, away from everything, now she prays. The parallel reverse, the definitive one, must continue running through her body. When she throws the racket and she lies down on the blue cement, facing the sky. Later, the greeting with the brand new number 1. Now a new era is born, in which she will climb to number three in the world ranking.
One year after the emotional farewell to Serena Williams, the teenage star emerges as the figure who can take her lead on and off the court. Her pulse did not tremble in her first US Open final against the fearsome Aryna Sabalenka, beating her 2-6, 6-3 and 6-2. She pulverized it. At 19, the American jewel is crowned Grand Slam champion for the first time in front of a New York audience that adores her and remembers how Serena Williams achieved the same feat in 1999 when she was only 17 years old.
If Williams was able to beat Martina Hingis, then world number one… Gauff had the same angel. He destroyed the Belarusian Aryna Sabalenka, the player who will assume leadership of the WTA from this Monday. On her way to the final, Gauff tried to escape comparisons with Williams, a childhood idol and champion of 23 Grand Slam tournaments. a weight that you carry since he became known to the world at the age of 15.
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Coco Gauff or something like the new era – Credits: @Charles Krupa
“Serena is Serena”, Gauff warned more than once, especially after her victory in the semifinals against Karolina Muchova. “She is the ‘GOAT’ (The Greatest of All Time). I would hope to do half of what she did.” After putting the comparisons in perspective, the young African-American tennis player acknowledged that Williams was a decisive figure in inspiring her to pick up a racket and pursue her dreams.
“He was able to transform a sport which is predominantly white,” Gauff recalled. “That’s something that as a child, and even now, meant a lot to me.” And he went further: “Before I was born, there weren’t many (black tennis players) to Serena. There was no icon of this sport that looked like me,” he noted. “So, growing up I never thought I was different because the number one player in the world was someone who looked like me,” she remarked.
Gauff burst onto the tennis world with an amazing and symbolic victory against Venus Williams, Serena’s older sister, in the first round of Wimbledon in 2019, recalls the AFP agency. Since that achievement, at just 15 years old, Gauff forged her own identity and became a recognized voice for both sports issues and the social and racial challenges facing her country.
“I have no words for everything that is happening to me, this is magical. I dedicate it to the people who didn’t believe in me. My heart continues to burn,” she says, now, as champion, with all the spectators standing. The development of the jewel Delray Beach (Florida) wasn’t as dizzying as Williams’, but this year he’s starting to translate his immense potential into major trophies.
Last month, after winning the Washington title (WTA 500), she achieved her long-awaited first victory in Cincinnati over Every Swiatekthe world number one, who had beaten her seven times, one of them in her first Grand Slam final at Roland Garros in 2022. Despite her talent and her privileged physique, Gauff lived through difficult times and suffered the “imposter syndrome”, questioning whether he could live up to the enormous expectations. Rivers of ink ran over her virtues and defects. And she’s just 19.
The tears of the new queen of New York – Credits: @Frank Franklin II
His change of mentality coincides with his arrival to his team as an advisor to the prestigious Brad Gilbert, after his painful elimination in July in the first round of Wimbledon. The young woman explained that the first advice Andre Agassi’s former coach gave her was for her to simply learn to enjoy herself. “In the first meeting I had with Brad before training started he told me: ‘You have to smile more“, revealed.
“When he said that I was a little surprised. I got to thinking and said, ‘Yes, I’m going to do it,’” she explained. “It’s something I’m trying to work on and obviously I think it’s helping my results.” With her title in Cincinnati, her first in the WTA 1000 category, Gauff built a streak of 12 consecutive matches won that will see her maximum test this Saturday against Sabalenka. She got a 10.
“It’s the first time I’ve seen my dad cry.”, he assumes. And she envelopes everyone in emotion, again. She finishes the task and sitting in her chair, she talks on her cell phone. “I called my brother and he didn’t answer me…” she raises the prettiest glass. She laughs. Now yes: she laughs again and again. Traces that remain forever.
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