Andy Roddick believes the timing of Coco Gauff’s maiden Grand Slam win at the US Open couldn’t have been better for the sport.
The 19-year-old clinched the biggest title of her career at Flushing Meadows earlier this month by fighting back from a set down to beat new No.1 Aryna Sabalenka. At the tournament, she also scored wins over Elise Mertens, Caroline Wozniacki, Jelena Ostapenko and Karolina Muchova. Gauff is the youngest American to win a major title since Serena Williams in 1999 and is only the third teenager from her country to win the US Open in the Open Era.
Reflecting on the triumph of his competitor in his column for Betway, Roddick believes Gauff’s success has helped ease fears of a ‘vacuum’ forming in the sport caused by the retirement of some of the all-time greats. Roger Federer stepped away from the sport last year, as well as Serena Williams. Meanwhile, Rafael Nadal has indicated that it is likely that 2024 will be his last season on the Tour. The only member of the Big Three not contemplating retirement is Novak Djokovic who is even reportedly considering playing at the 2028 Olympic Games when he will be in his early 40s.
“I was one of the dummies who questioned whether there would be a vacuum in tennis post Roger and Rafa and Serena, so the timing of Coco Gauff’s win couldn’t have been better, especially here in the US,” Roddick wrote.
“Venus and Serena were Coco’s idols, so to announce herself on the Grand Slam stage in the first year of the US Open after Serena’s retirement – a tournament where we saw Serena carry the public interest for a couple of decades – is pretty poetic.”
Gauff is currently ranked third in the WTA standings. Besides the US Open, this season she has also won titles in Auckland (WTA 250), Washington (WTA 500) and Cincinnati (WTA 1000). As of this week, the only player to have won the same number of titles as her in the women’s game is Iga Swiatek.
Although it is Gauff’s latest achievement that has elevated her to the limelight. Roddick believes she didn’t always play her best tennis in New York but has praised her ability to adapt to certain situations during matches.
“She didn’t play her best every single match, including the final, so the most impressive thing to me was the adjustment in strategy and turning her average days into three-set wins,” he commented.
“She tried to go more toe-to-toe with Aryna Sabalenka in the first set and realised that wasn’t going to work, so she needed to make her hit as many shots as possible and rely on her legs. She went with the mentality of saying, ‘I’m going to be a volume shooter, you’re going to have to beat me four or five times in a rally and I’m going to bring 25,000 of my closest friends into this match, too.’
“It seemed to be a little too much for Sabalenka, who deserves credit for being the new No.1 in the world. It’s not the US Open title that she wanted, but it’s a hell of a consolation prize.”
A recent addition to Gauff’s team has been Brad Gilbert who is working as a consultant to the tennis star. Her main coach is Pere Riba. Gilbert had previously worked as Roddick’s coach between 2003-2004. During that period, he oversaw his run to the US Open title, year-end No.1 ranking, and journey to the final of Wimbledon.
“I also couldn’t be happier for my old coach Brad Gilbert,” said Roddick. “I’m sure there were times where he questioned whether he was going to coach again, especially someone that had the potential to win a Grand Slam, but I’m not at all surprised by the success that he’s had with Coco.”
“I think he’d been running a lot of those parallels with me from 20 years ago, but the difference is that she’s not going to stop at one.”