“Now my flame burns even brighter”: Coco Gauff in the wake of Serena Williams

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After using her match point to make the score 2:6, 6:3, 6:2 against Aryna Sabalenka (25), she was unstoppable in New York. Coco Gauff (19) gives the Big Apple its tennis fairytale – and provides an emotional fireworks display at the end of the women’s competition at the US Open. Gauff immediately takes to the stands to share the biggest moment of her career to date with her loved ones. “That was the first time I saw my dad cry,” she will later reveal, teasingly adding: “He doesn’t want me to tell you this: he always acts so loud, but he’s not.”

It was also father Corey (52) who gave little Coco her first experience at the US Open. A 2012 video of Coco dancing to the hit ‘Call Me Maybe’ in the stands of Arthur Ashe Stadium has long gone viral: ‘My dad took me to this tournament to see Serena and Venus Williams play. And it is incredible to be on this stage now.”

Serena as driver

Gauff is the first American woman since Sloane Stephens (30) in 2017 to triumph in New York. And above all: she is the first teenager since Serena Williams (41) to achieve this. The 23-time Grand Slam winner, who said goodbye last year with a big show at the same location, also won her first major title in Flushing Meadows. That was in 1999, when she was only 18 years old, with a final victory over Martina Hingis (42).

Serena Williams served as a major inspiration for Gauff, who was born in Delray Beach, Florida in 2004. Shortly before the start of the US Open, she said at the 50th anniversary gala celebrating the women’s tour in Manhattan: “In Serena Williams, I saw someone who dominated women’s tennis in a way that no one else has. More importantly, I saw someone who looked like me and helped me believe that I could achieve a lot if I followed my own path.”

Earlier in the tournament, she told American broadcaster ESPN: “Serena is the greatest of all time. I hope I can reach half of them. But I don’t want to compare myself to her. The only thing I will regret for the rest of my life is that I never got to play against them.” Still, she is happy that she can follow in their footsteps.

Tips for the critics

She has now achieved this with flying colors thanks to her first Grand Slam title. She achieved victory mainly due to her performance improvement from the second set. Gauff’s emotional evening also included a start in which she was completely under the wheels against Sabalenka and was almost alone in the defense.

Her comeback once again underlines the great fighting spirit of Gauff, who is now number three in the world. After a mixed spring and the disappointment at Wimbledon (out in the first round), she has bounced back impressively with tournament victories in Washington, Cincinnati and now the US Open.

The new queen of New York also sends a message to her critics: “Thank you to the people who didn’t believe in me. To anyone who thought they could put out my fire with water: it was gas. And now my flame burns even brighter.”

Source : Blick