US OPEN
American teenager Coco Gauff fights back to beat Aryna Sabalenka and win U.S. Open
Teenager Coco Gauff mounted a fierce comeback to beat Belarusian second seed Aryna Sabalenka 2-6 6-3 6-2 in the U.S. Open women’s final on Saturday, claiming her first Grand Slam title and cementing her place in American tennis royalty.
With the win, sixth seed Gauff became the first American to win a U.S. Open singles title since Sloane Stephens in 2017.
Gauff, 19, fed off noisy local support as she fought back in the second set and kept the momentum going until the end of the battle, before falling to the court on Arthur Ashe Stadium as she clinched the title with a backhand winner.
Sabalenka had a superb start but could not keep the momentum going as unforced errors piled up and she closed her 2023 Grand Slam run, which included an Australian Open title and semi-finals at Roland Garros and Wimbledon, on a disappointing note.
“It doesn’t get more dramatic than that, to be honest,” said Gauff, who lost in her only previous major final appearance last year at Roland Garros.
“I knew today was going to be one of those problem-solving tough matches because she’s a tough opponent, so I’m obviously happy with the result.”
There were early signs of nervousness from both players, as Gauff made a pair of unforced errors to help Sabalenka to a break in the opening game, and the Belarusian dropped serve in the fourth game with two double faults and an unforced error.
The crowd urged on Gauff, the first American teenager to reach the U.S. Open singles final since Serena Williams in 2001.
But Sabalenka blocked out the noise and used her mighty forehand to convert on a break point chance in the fifth game. The Belarusian was helped to another break in the seventh as Gauff double faulted and made two more costly forehand mistakes.
The 25-year-old Sabalenka, who will take over as world number one in the new rankings, had ended Gauff’s run at Indian Wells earlier this year but told reporters this week she expected a “different player” in Saturday’s final.
She ended up facing just that in the second set, as the American showed new resolve when she fended off a pair of break points in the first game and flipped the script.
What was once a lopsided affair turned into a battle as Gauff increased her intensity, sending Sabalenka scrambling around the court in the fourth game before the Belarusian dropped her serve with a double fault.
Gauff produced an overhead smash to break in the opening game of the third set and converted another in the third game.
Sabalenka took a medical timeout after the fifth game, consulting a physio for an apparent issue with her left thigh, but did not appear worse off as she broke in the next game.
If Gauff was rattled, however, she did not show it, winning a 20-shot rally before breaking back in the seventh game and soaking up the adoration of the crowd at the major she grew up watching as she clinched the title.
After offering her opponent a hug, Gauff burst into tears and embraced her parents in the stands.
“The whole time I was saying to myself, ‘Oh, my goodness, how is this real?’” she told reporters.
“When I sat down after hugging them back before the ceremony, it felt real in that moment, but when I was going to hug them it didn’t. I almost forgot to shake the ref’s hand. It was a crazy moment.”
The tournament was celebrating 50 years of equal prize money at this year’s edition, and pioneer Billie Jean King was on hand to offer Gauff the trophy.
Sabalenka had only dropped a single set en route to Saturday’s finale and had tears in her eyes as she offered her opponent credit, chuckling as she said she wanted more finals against the American – but with “different results, hopefully.”
She told reporters the tide had turned during the match as she began “overthinking” in the second set.
“Because of that I start kind of like losing my power,” said Sabalenka “Then she start moving better. I start missing a lot of easy shots.”
GREAT EXPECTATIONS
The win delivered on years of enormous expectations hoisted upon the young American Gauff’s shoulders after she became the youngest ever to qualify for the Wimbledon main draw at 15 years old.
The breakthrough at such an early age came with its pitfalls.
“People were putting a lot of pressure on me to win. I felt that at 15 I had to win a slam at 15,” said Gauff.
“I felt like I had a time limit on when I should win one, and if I won one after a certain age it wouldn’t be an achievement.
“Yeah, it’s just crazy the amount of things that I have heard or seen about myself, but I’m really happy of how I’ve been able to manage it all.”
She found a new gear this summer, producing the best tennis of her career as she picked up a win in Washington and secured her first WTA 1000 title in Cincinnati, before embarking on a tremendous run through Flushing Meadows.
“A month ago I won a 500 title and people said I would stop at that. Two weeks ago I won a 1000 title and people were saying that was the biggest it was gonna get,” said Gauff.
“So three weeks later I am here with this trophy right now… To those who thought they were putting water on my fire you were really adding gas to it and now I am burning so bright.”
-Reuters
US OPEN
‘My heart dies every time I lose,’ Osaka says after US Open exit
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Naomi Osaka says 2024 is her “learning year” after coming back to the tour from a maternity break and the former world number one is trying to figure out how to better cope with the setbacks after being given a crash course in early Grand Slam exits.
Osaka has four major titles under her belt but the second round at Flushing Meadows, Wimbledon and Roland Garros was as good as it got this year for the Japanese 26-year-old, who exited the Australian Open in the first round.
On Thursday she lost 6-3 7-6(5) to Karolina Muchova, unable to get to grips with the Czech’s superb serve-and-volley tennis.
“It’s a little rough because I do take these losses really personally. It’s like a dramatic word, but I feel like my heart dies every time I lose,” she said.
“I’ve been trying to be more mature and learn and talk more about them.”
Osaka has been a champion for mental health in sport as she publicly struggled with the pressure to succeed, telling reporters in Flushing in 2021 that she no longer felt joy – only relief – when she won.
She has a new perspective now, she says, but is having to deal with frequent disappointments after packing her schedule since returning to the tour in January after 15 months away.
“It’s been a little difficult because obviously I can only gauge how I’m doing by results. Like, I feel faster. I feel better, but I lost in the second round. So it’s a little rough,” she told reporters.
“But, also, it’s been fun playing a lot of tournaments. It’s been a commitment for sure, but I’ve been able to go to different cities that I’ve never been to.”
She lost in the second round of qualifying in Cincinnati but gave glimpses of her brilliance in New York as she handed 10th seed Jelena Ostapenko a straight-sets defeat in the first round.
“This year for me has been a learning year. I put a lot of energy and effort into all the tournaments that I played,” she said. “Obviously the U.S. Open is very special to me.”
-Reuters
US OPEN
U.S. Open defending champion Djokovic as ambitious as ever after completing Golden Slam
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Novak Djokovic said he remains eager to continue making history as he begins his U.S. Open title defence only three weeks after winning a coveted gold medal at the Paris Games to cement his status as the greatest tennis player in history.
Djokovic aims to win a record 25th Grand Slam and become the first U.S. Open champion to successfully defend his title since Swiss great Roger Federer in 2008.
The 37-year-old said he was looking forward to playing his first match of the tournament on Monday against Radu Albot under the lights of the Arthur Ashe Stadium.
“The goal is always for me to try to go all the way to the finals and fight for the trophy. That kind of mindset is no different for me this year,” Djokovic told a news conference on Saturday.
“People ask me ‘now that you have won everything with the golden medal, what else is there to win?’ I still feel the drive. I still have the competitive spirit. I still want to make more history and enjoy myself on the tour.
“The US Open holds the biggest tennis court in the world. Night sessions here are very famous. I’m going to play my first match on Monday night, I can’t wait to be under the lights. The noise, the energy of the stadium is just different. I look forward to it.”
Other than his Paris Games triumph, Djokovic has claimed no other titles in 2024, losing to younger players such as Jannik Sinner in the Australian Open semi-finals and Carlos Alcaraz in the Wimbledon final.
The last time Djokovic played all four majors in a season without winning one was 14 years ago. Yet the Serb looked like he was in fine form at the Olympics, beating French Open champion Alcaraz in the final.
Djokovic claims to be motivated to keep pushing himself forward through his rivalries with younger players.
“These kind of rivalries that I have with Jannik and Carlos are the kind of matchups that still bring that joy of competition to me and inspire me to really push myself to perfect the game,” he added.
-Reuters
US OPEN
Osaka, Andreescu and Wawrinka receive U.S. Open wildcards
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Former champions Naomi Osaka, Bianca Andreescu and Stan Wawrinka have received singles main draw wildcards into the U.S. Open, the United States Tennis Association said on Wednesday.
Japan’s Osaka, who counts the 2018 and 2020 U.S. Opens among her four Grand Slam titles, returned to competition in January after the birth of her daughter and has advanced to the third round or better at four WTA 1000 events this season.
Canada’s Andreescu, the 2019 U.S. Open champion, returned to action this year after missing nine months due to a back injury and reached the French Open third round in her first event back.
For Swiss Wawrinka, who won the most recent of his three Grand Slam titles at the 2016 U.S. Open, the wildcard allows him to make his 72nd main draw appearance in one of the game’s four blue-riband events, which puts him fifth on the all-time list.
Austrian Dominic Thiem, the 2020 U.S. Open champion who announced this year that he will retire following the 2024 season due to a wrist injury, was also given a wildcard.
The U.S. Open will held from Aug. 26-Sept. 8 in New York
-Reuters
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