Coco Gauff wins US Open at Age 19
On Saturday, September 9, Coco Gauff defeated Aryna Sabalenka to win the US Open Title, as well as her first grand slam at the age of nineteen. A few minutes later, she posted a TikTok holding the trophy to DJ Khaled’s “All I Do is Win.” She is the first American teenager to win the title since Serena Williams in 1999. But, she’s already amassed a huge following from her win over Venus Williams in 2019 at the age of fifteen. In the past month, Gauff won her hometown tournament, the Citi Open, the Western and Southern Open, and eventually, the US Open. However, it did not come without public doubt.
In Gauff’s trophy ceremony speech at the US Open, she stated, “Thank you to the people who didn’t believe in me. A month ago I won a 500 title, and people said I’d stop at that. Two weeks ago I won a 1000 title, and people said that was as big as it would get. Three weeks later, I’m here.” In her post-match conference, Gauff said, “I felt like people were like ‘it was all hype.’ I see the comments. People think I don’t see, but I’m very aware of Tennis Twitter. I know yall’s usernames. I know who’s talking trash. I can’t wait to look on twitter right now.” Even after proving herself by winning this major title, twitter users didn’t take this comment lightly. One called her an “arrogant brat,” and another said “the hype” will be detrimental to her progress. People’s unwillingness to believe in Gauff could be in part to her age and those who fell short after winning big titles. Emma Raducanu, for example, won the US Open in 2021, but made a first round exit the following year and hasn’t won any titles since. Even one of her opponents, Jelena Ostapenko, discredits Gauff’s win because of unfair scheduling.
Ostapenko claims her 0-6, 2-6 loss against Gauff on September 5 was due to a lack of recovery time. On Sunday, September 3, Ostapenko defeated the worlds number one women’s tennis player, Iga Swiatek, in her fourth round match that evening. “I felt like I didn’t recover from that night. I got back to the hotel around 2 a.m. I think the schedule was better for her because she played much earlier in the day. I played a night session,” Ostapenko said in her press conference. Gauff’s match started at 3 p.m., while Ostapenko’s match started at 7 p.m. However, Ostapenko didn’t play at all the next day while Gauff played in a doubles match. So, for Ostapenko to cite her performance against Gauff as a faulty schedule, is, quite frankly, stupid.
“Ostapenko got an entire day to recover while Coco still had to play a doubles match, so I don’t understand why she’s complaining. If anything, it should be Coco that’s complaining,” Emma Shagen, 11, said. “I do think the US Open could’ve given her a better schedule, but I don’t think playing three hours later in the day would’ve made a huge difference for Ostapenko. She lost pretty badly,” Shagen commented. A 2-6, 0-6 loss is pretty significant, and a match later in the day wouldn’t have been the difference between winning and losing.
Before headlining with her grand slam win, Gauff made the news earlier in the tournament over her altercation with an umpire in her first round match, garnering support on social media due to its similarity to what happened to Serena Williams in the 2018 US Open. In Gauff’s first round match against Laura Siegemund, Gauff called out the umpire for enforcing slow play by not giving Siegemund time violations. In videos, you can hear the crowd supporting Gauff, much like when Williams called out the umpire in 2018.
Tyler Fynewever, 12, thought Gauff was right for calling out the umpire because “her opponent would take a towel break almost every other point, and she wasn’t even serving.” In tennis, the receiver should be ready by the time the server is ready to serve. “If you take too long it can mess up your rhythm and make you play worse,” Fynewever explained.
While Gauff is the first American teenager to win the US Open since Serena, Gauff doesn’t want to compare herself to her. “Being in the same stat line as her means a lot to me,” Gauff said, but she’s “not trying to fulfill those footsteps whatsoever… I will try my best to be the best Coco.” Gauff understands that Williams is one of a kind, and that it will be tough to live up to her legacy. For now, Gauff just wants to keep winning.