Coco channels teen spirit and fires up
It’s all bit of blur but gutsy Gauff, 15, does not give in or give up
Here’s how new all of this is to Coco Gauff: She didn’t quite realise she only has to play every other day at the US Open. “I’m still used to playing juniors,” the American said with a chuckle, “so I forgot about the day off.”
She’s still just 15. She’s competing in just her second Grand Slam tennis tournament. And yet she’s showing she can perform like someone much older and more experienced.
With her parents jumping out of their front-row seats over and over again, and a raucous partisan crowd backing her at Louis Armstrong Stadium, Gauff trailed by a set and a break, then again by a break in the third set, before coming up big down the stretch to get past Anastasia Potapova, of Russia, 3-6, 6-2, 6-4 in her debut at Flushing Meadows in New York.
“Honestly, I mean, I really don’t remember the match too well,” Gauff said, “because everything is still a blur”.
Here is what is clear: She displayed the same sort of gumption she did while saving match points in a Centre Court comeback
at Wimbledon during her captivating run to the fourth round there last month.
Gauff simply does not give in or give up.
As strong as her serve and other strokes are, she’s already showing an ability to make adjustments during a match and figure out ways to win, time and again. Gauff was ranked 313th when she got a wild card invitation into qualifying at Wimbledon, then became the youngest player in history to make it through those preliminary rounds at that prestigious tournament.
Earlier, four top-10 seeds in the bottom half of the draw all tumbled out in the first round: No 4 Dominic Thiem, a two-time French Open runner-up; No 8 Stefanos Tsitipas, an Australian Open semifinalist; No 9 Karen Khachanov, a French Open quarter-finalist; and No 10 Roberto Bautista Agut, a Wimbledon semifinalist. The biggest beneficiary of all of those departures could be three-time champion Rafael Nadal, the No 2 seed, who found no such trouble, easily putting together a 6-3, 6-2, 6-2 victory at night over John Millman, the Australian who upset Roger Federer a year ago in New York.
In women’s action, defending champion and No 1 seed Naomi Osaka dropped her first five games against 84th-ranked Anna Blinkova, wasted a match point in the second set, then finally put together a 6-4, 6-7 (5), 6-2 victory.
A couple of years ago, when Gauff was 13, she got a chance to practice with Osaka.
“Her dad and my dad are actually quite cool,” Osaka said yesterday. “She seems to be doing great.”
Gauff’s father and mother were kind of quiet in the early going at Armstrong, until their daughter waved to her guest box after falling behind 3-0 early.
“I was telling them to get hyped up more. I needed more positive energy. I was nervous. Just looking at them when they’re giving me a fist pump gives me a little reassurance,” Gauff explained. “I think they were nervous. They wanted to stay more reserved, too. I was like, ‘No, I need you guys to come on, stand up’.”
They obliged, yelling and clapping after what seemed to be each point Coco won. Dad also pounded a fist on his chest repeatedly. “I think I gave them a heart attack, especially my mom,” Gauff said.