Coco Gauff is the queen of New York.
The 19-year-old on Sunday morning produced a stunning comeback to defeat world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka in the US Open women’s final.
Gauff has become the first American teenager to win the grand slam since Serena Williams in 1999, sparking wild scenes of celebrations from the Arthur Ashe Stadium crowd.
She had to do it the tough way after Sabalenka blasted her off the court in the first set.
However, Gauff then flipped the match on its head while Sabalenka began top fall apart on the other side of the net.
Gauff served it out with incredible maturity and was overcome with emotion after finishing off the 2-6 6-3 6-2 win.
The post-match trophy presentations took a surprising turn when Gauff took the microphone and also sent an unprovoked, prickly message to her critics.
“Honestly, thank you to the people who didn’t believe in me…two weeks ago, I won a 1000 title (in Cincinnati) and people were saying that was the biggest it was going to get,” she said. “Three weeks later, I’m here with this trophy right now.
“Honestly, those who thought they were putting water on my fire, you were really adding gas to it, and now I’m really burning so bright right now.” Gauff had been beaten in her first Grand Slam final appearance at the French Open last year, a defeat she told ESPN on Saturday left her feeling like “my life was going to end.” “That French Open loss (last year) was a heartbreak for me. That makes this moment even sweeter than I could imagine,” Gauff said.
“I’m so grateful for this moment. I don’t have any words for it to be honest.”
Gauffwas in tears immediately after the win while sharing a special moment with her family and those sitting inside her players’ box.
She closed the match with a backhand winner down the line, and as she laid on the court, tears began to flow, The New York Post reports.
She eventually made her way to her family, sharing a hug with her father, Corey. Her coach, Brad Gilbert, told her: “I’m so f***ing proud of you.”
8.30am – Gauff becomes grand slam champion for the first time
Coco Gauff was a class above Aryna Sabalenka in an explosive third set.
With Sabalenka appearing to be mentally wounded after coughing up the second set, Gauff refused to take the foot off her opponent’s throat and raced out to a 4-0 lead.
Gauff only needed one chance to serve it out, finishing the match off 2-6 6-3 6-2 after two hours and seven minutes.
There was a classy moment shared by the two players after the match and they were equally as classy when speaking during the trophy ceremony.
Sabalenka broke down in tears and needed a long moment to compose herself when saying thankyou to her family. “Sorry about the result,” she said before choking up in tears.
7.45am – Sabalenka ‘self destructed’
Coco Gauff has fought her way back into the match and has brought the Arthur Ashe Stadium crowd to its feet after taking the second set 6-3.
Gauff was finally able to get control of her forehand and it came at the same time as errors again crept into Sabalenka’s game.
Sabalenka appeared to be red-lining her shots with plenty of groundstrokes landing just outside the lines.
Aussie great Todd Woodbridge said on Channel 9: “She’s self destructed a little bit”.
Jelena Dokic also said Sabalenka had shot herself in the foot by playing so aggressively.
“She might have got a bit too ahead of herself,” she said.
“She was doing enough. You don’t need to do any more than that.”
7am – New York crowd’s savage response
The New York crowd was roaring every time Aryna Sabalenka committed an error in the first set, but they couldn’t stop her.
After breaking Gauff’s serve to start the match, the Belarusian star coughed up a break of serve after a string of ugly unforced errors appearing to be irked by the hostile crowd cheering for her opponent.
When she served two double faults in the service game the crowd erupted in cheers.
Both players appeared overawed by the occasion but it was a fired up Sabalenka that eventually composed herself.
There was one point in the service game where Gauff refused to give up and chased down three power spikes from Sabalenka before a fourth smash at the net finally ended the point.
Sabalenka waved her hands in a gesture to the crowd, but Aussie commentator Todd Woodbridge had to tell her that the cheers weren’t for her.
“Sabalenka can rev the crowd up but their not cheering for the put-away they’re cheering for the running that Coco did,” he said.
6am – Gauff carrying an entire nation
Serena Williams may be one year into her retirement but American teenager Coco Gauff will be proudly carrying the tennis icon’s legacy when she takes on Aryna Sabalenka in the US Open final on Saturday.
Twelve months after Williams signed off from a 27-year professional career that yielded 23 Grand Slam singles titles, the 19-year-old Gauff is on the threshold of winning her first major championship.
During her march to Saturday’s final, Gauff has parried away suggestions that she is the “new Serena Williams”, making it clear that her idol’s achievements may never be matched.
“Serena is Serena,” Gauff said following her semi-final victory over Karolina Muchova on Thursday. “She’s the GOAT (Greatest of all time). I’d hope to do half of what she did.” But the teenager makes no secret of the fact that Williams was instrumental in inspiring her to pick up a racquet and pursue her dreams.
“I think really just the way she was able to transform a sport that’s predominantly white,” Gauff has said. “That’s something that as a little girl – and even now – meant a lot to me.
“Growing up, before I was born, there wasn’t many (Black tennis players) before Serena came along. There was not really an icon of the sport that looked like me.
“So growing up, I never thought that I was different because the No. 1 player in the world was somebody who looked like me.” Gauff, who burst into the wider world’s tennis consciousness with a memorable run to the fourth round of Wimbledon in 2019 when she was just 15, has quickly forged her own identity.
Despite her array of talents, though, the teenager admits to sometimes suffering from “impostor syndrome”, questioning whether she really belongs at the top table of women’s tennis.
She has grappled with those thoughts even after ticking off some notable milestones this season, which included titles in Washington and Cincinnati, and a first ever victory over world number one Iga Swiatek after defeats in their seven previous meetings.
— with AFP
