She’s the teenage queen of Queens: Coco Gauff had a well-earned Grand Slam coronation on Saturday at the US Open, with a 2-6, 6-3, 6-2 win over soon-to-be world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka in the women’s championship.
Gauff is the 10th teenager to win the US Open women’s title all-time and the first American teenager to be crowned at her home major since Serena Williams won as a 17-year-old in 1999.
In addition to Williams, Gauff joins Tracy Austin, Stefanie Graf, Monica Seles, Martina Hingis, Svetlana Kuznetsova, Maria Sharapova, Bianca Andreescu and Emma Raducanu on New York’s under-20 roll of honor.
With her first grand slam title, the 19-year-old completed an astonishing, dominant hard court swing that immediately followed her painful first round exit at Wimbledon. Having set her expectations so high at SW19, Gauff was tearful after her loss to Sofia Kenin. After her victory here at Flushing Meadows, she said the loss made her doubt whether she would ever win a major title. “I just felt like people were, like, ‘Oh, she’s hit her peak and she’s done. It was all hype.’” she said.
When sealing victory with a backhand winner on her first championship point, Gauff immediately fell on to the court and laid on the sideline with her hands covering her face.
Almost the whole 24,000 crowd, which provided boisterous support throughout as they willed Gauff to victory, erupted in a frenzied celebration.
Gauff, overcome with emotion, made a heart sign to the fans before going up to the stands to see her parents Corey and Candi.
All three hugged and jumped in a circle as the family’s sacrifices and hard work had resulted in one of the sport’s biggest prizes.
Asked to describe that moment, a laughing Gauff said: “When I hugged my dad, I didn’t see him, because he went immediately for the embrace – but I heard him crying.
“I have never seen that man cry in my life. My mum, I knew she was going to cry regardless if I won or lost.
“Honestly [I was thinking] nothing. The whole time I was saying to myself, ‘Oh my goodness, how is this real?”
