Battling Gauff keeps dream alive in Centre Court drama
Cori Gauff (US) beat Polona Hercog (Slovenia)
Wimbledon has officially gone loco for Coco. On an evening of churning Centre Court drama, Cori Gauff – nicknamed Coco, as she has come to be known to everyone in the tennis world and beyond – confirmed herself as quite possibly the most nerveless 15-year-old on the planet.
Saving two match points, the teenager returned from the ragged edge of defeat last night to secure an astounding 3-6, 7-6, 7-5 victory over Slovenia’s Polona Hercog, one that transformed her from prodigy to bona fide superstar.
What, ultimately, is talent without tenacity? Gauff had shown to everybody here, through her straight-sets wins over Venus Williams and Magdalena Rybarikova, that she had natural gifts in abundance, but in this extraordinary fight with Hercog she confirmed that she also had the resilience.
Even when spectators on Centre Court had all but given up on her hopes, she rebounded out of nowhere, emerging on top from a gripping tie-break to take the contest into a third hour. And in the longest match of her life, it was she who stood tallest, wrapping up her place in the last 16, where she plays world No7 Simona Halep.
Her precocious composure, she explained, was a virtue instilled by her parents, both of whom had significant sporting careers. No one would have guessed that this was her baptism on a “sacred” court, as Gauff described it. The impression was that she had at last been overpowered, as Hercog sauntered out to a 6-3, 5-2 lead.
Gauff packed three double-faults into one game to surrender the first set. But the tale, she decided, needed to have a more rousing ending than this. She had travelled too far, won too many admirers, to slip out of the tournament tamely.
Gauff is the youngest player to reach the last 16 since Jennifer Capriati in 1991. While the history of women’s tennis is filled with teenage prodigies, few, if any, have made such an indelible impact on a Wimbledon debut. Just when the crowd had settled into a mood of bleak resignation, she found her finest form all evening, saving Hercog’s first match point with the deftest backhand slice.
The Slovenian hardly had to be reminded that she was struggling for the crowd’s affections, especially when her next netted forehand drew raucous cheers.
Gauff had forced her to try to serve this out, and the 28-year-old, seeking a first fourth-round appearance at a major, folded under the strain. No sooner had she brought up a second chance to wrap it all up with an ace than she double-faulted, before spraying a forehand long. It was becoming rowdy in the debentures, as wellwatered patrons willed Gauff towards a memorable encore. “Pressure is a privilege,” yelled one.
Evidently, the message reached her, as she harried Hercog into conceding the precious break. A tie-break was the only proper way to defuse the tension, and it was an instant minor classic. A mere 33 minutes after she had stared down the barrel at match-point down, Gauff had a set point herself, squandering it with an overhit backhand. At the second time of asking, on her own racket, she made almost a carbon-copy mistake. But given a third chance, she did not wobble, moving Hercog around with a series of backhands, before finally moving in for the kill with a brave forehand winner.
She was ecstatic, naturally, but not half as much as her father, Corey, who placed a foot on the barrier of the players’ box, punching the air.
Mother Candi, by contrast, could scarcely watch, sitting with her head bowed. Briefly, it appeared too much even for Hercog, too, who lay flat on the ground while the trainer performed some leg stretches. She proceeded to leave the court for a medical time-out so long that Gauff had to slip on a jacket to stave off the cold.
At over 1½ hours, this was already one of the longest matches in which Gauff had been involved. But she headed out into uncharted territory with conviction, scampering to the net and putting away the volley that secured her first service hold of the decider.
Faced with the flagging Hercog, she could scent blood, never more so than when a loose forehand put her 3-1 in front, her first lead since the opening game. Hercog, stricken by nerves, was barely placing her feet, while Gauff was now nimbly covering every inch of grass.
The undulations of this match, however, were endless, and Hercog ensured one last twist, lashing a forehand winner and unsettling Gauff enough to take the break back. Still, serving first, Gauff was the one who could dictate terms. Finally, she turned the screw, rushing to the net, and compelling Hercog to try an ambitious lob that landed long. She bounced up and down in euphoria, recognising, along with everybody else, that this was a Wimbledon win for
the ages.