By Richard Pagliaro | Saturday, September 9, 2023
Coco Gauff won her maiden Grand Slam title with gripping 2-6, 6-3, 6-2 triumph over second-seeded Aryna Sabalenka in a dramatic US Open final.
Photo credit: Elsa/Getty
NEW YORK—The dream dangled in front of Coco Gauff’s eyes.
Meeting the moment with conviction, the 19-year-old Gauff banged a backhand down the line to realize it.
Gauff: I'm a Product of Serena's Legacy
Gauff hit a backhand bolt sealing her maiden Grand Slam title with gripping 2-6, 6-3, 6-2 triumph over second-seeded Aryna Sabalenka in today's US Open final.
A dynamic Gauff bounced back from a jittery opening set, slashing through five straight games to seize the second set and snatch a 4-0 lead in the third turning the largest Grand Slam stadium in the sport into a massive house party with more than 23,000 screaming fans relishing the ride.
The 19-year-old Gauff is the youngest American to win the US Open since her tennis hero, a 17-year-old Serena Williams, defeated world No. 1 Martina Hingis in the 1999 final.
The retractable roof was closed over Arthur Ashe Stadium due to thunderstorms in the area, but Gauff nearly blew the lid off the place by the time this two hour, six-minute final was done.
When Gauff’s final backhand splashed inside the baseline, she collapsed to the court and covered her hands with her eyes in exultation. Gauff later shed tears joining Serena Williams and Hall of Famer Tracy Austin as the third American teenager to capture the US Open.
"Oh my goodness, it means so much to me," Gauff said. "I feel like I’m a little bit in shock in this moment. That French Open loss was a heartbreak for me. But I realized God puts you through tribulations and trials and it makes this moment even more special."
All the technical talk about Gauff's sometimes flighty forehand, in the end Gauff's sheer resolve and strong self belief helped her flip the script and turn this final around.
It is Gauff’s 12th consecutive victory and propels her to a new career-high rank of No. 3.
"I just knew if I didn’t give it my all I had not shot at winning," Gauff said. "Aryna is an incredible, incredible player. Your’e a really nice person behind the scenes and the competitiveness and fire you bring to the court makes the sport better."
Spare a thought for Sabalenka, who was contesting her second Grand Slam final of the season, dominated the final for a set, but came up empty in the decisive set. Sabalenka set up points well, but sometimes struggled to find the finishing shot. The Belarusian, who conceded she was fighting herself at times in the final set, committed 46 unforced errors, 27 more errors than Gauff.
"I'm definitely going for a drink tonight, if I'm allowed to say that," Sabalenka told the media afterward.
Still, Sabalenka can look back on a successful Slam season.
The Australian Open champion played her second major final of the season and will wake up on Monday morning as new world No. 1. Like the champion, the finalist shed tears in the aftermath of a deeply emotional match. Showing her raw spirit, Sabalenka earned one of her biggest roars of the day.
"You guys could have supported me like this during the match," Sabalenka said. "I’m most proud I was most of the times able to handle my emotions pretty well and focus on myself and not the ranking.
"I think this is the best thing about this year. I felt all the love through all these couple of weeks. I want to say congrats Coco you played unbelievable. Many more to come I’m pretty sure. I hope we’re gonna play many more finals, different results, hopefully. Congrats, you’re amazing."
The summer of Coco hit a celebratory crescendo as Gauff celebrated her 12th consecutive win and biggest career title high-fiving fans as she climbed into the seats to engage her dad, Cory, in a heart-felt emotional embrace before hugging her mom, Candy, who shouted “We did it! We Did it!"
"Today, was the first time I've ever seen my dad cry," Gauff said later. "He thinks he's so hard. My dad took me to this tournament, [I was] sitting there watching Venus and Serena compete and now I'm here."
Not bad for a teenager who has heard the criticism from skeptics saying her extreme western-grip forehand was too unreliable to win a Grand Slam championship. While Gauff her her fair share of shanked forehand today, she also cracked some spinning running forehands to extend points and held up to the pressure of one of the sport’s hardest hitters repeatedly battering away at her weaker wing.
Playing with poise and purpose, Gauff covered the court masterfully, defended with determination, mixed her high-bouncing heavy topspin forehand with finishing flat backhand strikes and rode the wall of sound and positive emotion from fans sparking a surge of five straight games to end the second set and start the third set.
The most frustrating feeling for Sabalenka was knowing how frequently she put herself in winning positions only to see Gauff make another remarkable running get and eventually drain an error.
Power player Sabalenka is one of the best exterminating points, but Gauff was better at extending points tonight.
"I would definitely say that she was moving really well and defending really great, better than anybody else. So I always had to play like an extra ball," Sabalenka said. "It's a combination of everything. But I would say that today was more because of me. Like, that is, not the whole match, but, like, there was key moments in the second set which the one I lost, I mean, the moments I lost, and those moments helped her to turn around the game.
"Afterwards, it was just, like, of course her unbelievable defending game. But, like, I would say that just because of that, like, key moments in the second set where it was more about me than her, I lost this match."
Before packed Arthur Ashe Stadium crowd that included Billie Jean King, Martina Navratilova, Andy Roddick, Maria Sharapova, Kevin Durant, Nicole Kidman, Amanda Seyfried, Spike Lee and Diane Keaton, fans gave Gauff overwhelming vocal support from the start.
Entering the final as a 3/1 favorite to capture her first US Open crown, Sabalenka made Gauff feel her crackling power from the opening game.
Stepping into the court, Sabalenka swatted a crosscourt backhand breaking to open the match. A stable Sabalenka drilled a 116 mph serve winner that helped her back up the break at 15 for 2-0.
The second seed slammed down a smash holding for 4-2. Targeting the Gauff forehand, Sabalenka provoked a couple of shanked forehands and a netted drive breaking again for 5-2.
On her second set point, Sabalenka snatched a one-set lead as Gauff netted another forehand. Sabalenka smacked eight winners compared to three for Gauff in the 40-minute opener.
In the second set, Gauff cleaned up her act considerably, stabilized her forehand and hit some tremendous running strikes to rally.
A terrific running backhand bolt down the line helped Gauff gain a break point in the fourth game. Showing stress, Sabalenka double faulted gifting the break and a 3-1 lead.
Fending off break point in the following game, Gauff held firm to extend her lead to 4-1—her biggest lead of the final.
As Gauff stepped out to serve to force a final set, the Arthur Ashe Stadium faithful erupted in a chant of “Let’s Go Coco! Let’s Go Coco!”
The Cincinnati champion answered the call.
In a rousing rally, Gauff showed her athleticism hitting a leaping Marcelo Rios-style backhand down the line to set up a forehand volley for set point. When Sabalenka scattered a forehand, Gauff snatched the second set to force a third after one hour, 24 minutes.
Riding the wave of sound fans washed over the court, Gauff raced up to a net-cord shot, shoveled a slice backhand approach down the line then snapped off a smash breaking to start the final set.
The entire Gauff box, including mom Candy and coaches Pere Riba and Brad Gilbert, leaped out of their seats throwing clenched fists of support for the early break.
The sixth seed continued driving the ball deep, consolidating at 15 for a 2-0 lead.
Three games into the decider, control was eluding Sabalenka on deep drives. Gauff saw it, defended with determination and kept forcing the Belarusian to come up with one more big shot. Instead, Sabalenka misfired as Gauff broke for 3-0.
Moving smoothly and covering the court with a closing burst, Gauff twirled a two-handed pass crosscourt that helped her stretch her lead to 4-0 as a spiraling Sabalenka was struggling to tame her drives and quiet the crowd screaming sustained support for the home favorite.
The second seed stopped her five-game slide holding for 1-4. Then Sabalenka, wearing a white towel draped over her head, took a medical timeout for treatment of a left thigh issue. On her courtside seat, Gauff munched on some fruit salad.
The Australian Open champion emerged from the break to break back for 2-4.
Shrugging it off, Gauff came right back. Exploiting a Sabalenka double fault, Gauff ripped a backhand down the line to set up a ferocious forehand finish breaking for the fifth time.
A spent Sabalenka shoveled a meek drop shot into net as Gauff gained match point. Gauff scripted her signature shot, the backhand, to cap a brilliant comeback falling flat on her back to soak in thunderous applause.
The fifth American teenager to contest the US Open final, Gauff collected a $3 million champion’s check, which is more than a third of the total career prize money ($8 Million) she earned before this US Open.
"I’m so f—cking proud of you! You did a great job," Gauff's co-coach Brad Gilbert, who along with coach Pere Riba has guided her to 18 victories in her last 19 matches since her Wimbledon first-round lost to Sofia Kenin, told her. During this superb streak, Gauff captured championships in Washington, DC, Cincinnati and now New York saving her biggest performance for the game's largest Grand Slam stage.
Throughout this summer of Coco, her coaches, Riba and Gilbert, have repeatedly urged her to "make matches physical."
The 19-year-old from Delray Beach showed physical fortitude and mental strength battling back to score a trio of three-set wins in the fortnight. Gauff rallied past German qualifier Laura Siegemund 3-6, 6-2, 6-4 and roared back to defeat former world No. 1 Caroline Wozniacki 6-3, 3-6, 6-1 in the fourth round.
A summer season that began with a gut-wrenching Wimbledon first-round exit concludes with Coco hoisting the shiny silver US Open trophy.
Afterward, Gauff gave an assist to the social media skeptics who trashed her forehand and wrote her off as "over-rated" and "over-hyped by U.S. media."
If you're one of those keyboard warriors who wrote Gauff off, know that she hears you and used your criticism as the fuel that blazed her competitive fire.
"Right now I'm just feeling happiness and a very, very small bit of relief. Because honestly at this point I was doing it for myself and not for other people," Gauff said. "I have just been embracing every positive and negative thing that's said about me. I realize, you know, sometimes people have different personalities and some people need to shut off the comments and not look at them. But I'm an argumentative person. I'm very stubborn...
"So I really told myself, literally up until, like, 10 minutes before the match, I was just reading comments of people saying I wasn't going to win today. That just put the fire in me."
Tonight, the new champion departed with parting praise for New York fans.
"Thank you to New York, you guys pulled me through this fire," Gauff said.
The fire and desire Gauff summoned today make her a major champion.