The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
With Pegula, Gauff in top five, U.S. tennis is having a moment
Sports fans tend to turn away from tennis after the U.S. Open champions are crowned, bringing an end to the season’s four majors.
But professional tennis has played on since Carlos Alcaraz and Iga Swiatek raised their trophies in September. And amid far less fanfare, this week marked a historic moment for Jessica Pegula, Coca Gauff and women’s tennis in general.
Following her triumph Sunday in the Guadalajara Open, Pegula, 28, vaulted to No. 3 in the world rankings, achieving a career high after 13 years on the pro tour,
Fellow American Coco Gauff, 18, made a parallel leap alongside her good friend and frequent doubles partner, reaching a careerhigh No. 4 when this week’s Women’s Tennis Association rankings were computed.
It’s the first time since 2010 that two American women have been ranked among the world’s top five, snapping the 12-year drought since Serena and Venus Williams were No. 2 and 4, respectively.
It was just eight weeks ago that the tennis world bid farewell to Serena Williams in a prime-time gala on Arthur Ashe Stadium that followed her firstround victory at the U.S. Open, which she had indicated would be the last of her career in telling Vogue that she was “evolving away from tennis.”
More recently, Williams, 41, has left the door ajar for a return to competition. But
the narrative of a changingof-the-guard atop women’s tennis is underway, much as it is in men’s tennis.
For Pegula, the Guadalajara victory was profound, her first title in a Masters 1000 event, which is one rung below a Grand Slam event in terms of ranking points, caliber of field and prestige. Winning a 1000 event, she explained afterward, had been one of her goals for the season.
Gauff celebrated her career-high ranking with a social media post Monday, tweeting: “special feeling waking up Top 5 in the world in singles and doubles. #grateful”
Both have one more tournament remaining: The WTA Finals, which starts Monday in Fort Worth, Texas, after being relocated from China in response to ongoing concerns about the safety and independence of
Peng Shuai.
Only the world’s top eight players are invited to compete, so simply qualifying for the event is a significant achievement. Pegula and Gauff will not only be making their WTA Final debut in singles; they’ll also partner for the doubles event.
For nearly 20 years, men’s tennis has been dominated by the triumvirate of Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic, whose 63 collective Grand Slam singles titles have scarcely allowed anyone else to make a mark of consequence.
With Nadal the lone among them to compete at this year’s U.S. Open, the 128-player men’s field was deemed wide open. It was won by a teenager — the 19-year-old Alcaraz, whose grit conjured memories of a young Nadal. Alcaraz has since risen to No. 1 in the world.