Coco Gauff practically grew up with a tennis racket in one hand. Even as a 15-year-old playing the ITF World Tennis Tour ranks, the tennis world was well aware of the junior from Doray Beach, Fla.
If you showed up early for an ITF event at Charleston’s LTP Tennis Center, you might find Gauff on a court practicing. Of course her dad Corey was running the drills and mom Candi wasn’t far away.
Taking a break, Coco gave the reason for her early success in tennis in four words: “A lot of practice.”
Practice was her strength even back then, and even then her parents knew they had a winner. She wanted success as much as her parents
A STAR IN THE MAKING
“I started tennis at six, but my parents put me in everything. I like tennis. You get to think for yourself. It’s an individual sport and you are in charge of everything,” she said then.
Gauff had already turned pro a year earlier in 2018 and won the Junior Wimbledon singles title and Junior French Open doubles crown.
“Depth, that’s the secret,” she said. “If you keep the ball deep, you don’t give them the opportunity to make good returns.”
Her philosophy obviously hasn’t changed. Aryna Sabalenka found out the hard way in Saturday’s women’s French Open singles championship match.
WIND WAS THE ENEMY
The wind got in the way for both players. It showed most for world’s No. 1 Sabalenka, who opened with a 4-1 lead before falling apart in the second set of a 6-7 (5), 6-2, 6-4 loss to Gauff.
It wasn’t a pretty match. Both players made errors, but Sabalenka seemed to be more out of control at times. As the Belarusian said later while holding back tears, she told her team it was “terrible tennis” and her “worst final.”
Gauff made her share of mistakes, but Sabalenka took the medal for that. Sabalenka seemed to play reckless and careless at times. In short, she was her own worst enemy.
COCO JUST KEPT HITTING THE BASELINE
Meanwhile, Gauff kept hitting lines and covering almost every inch of her court. No wonder Sabalenka thought it was a terrible match.
In reality, the wind was the true winner, repeatedly throwing Sabalenka’s first serve off its mark. She also hit 70 unforced errors.
Gauff became the youngest player to win the French Open since Martina Hingis in 2000. At 21 years old, Gauff is half-way to winning the career Grand Slam, one on hard court at the U.S. Open and one on clay on Saturday.
Of course, Sabalenka remains the No. 1 player in the world after losing a second straight Grand Slam final. Her time at the top may be short.
It looks like women’s tennis has a new star.
James Beck was the 2003 winner of the USTA National Media Award for print media. A 1995 MBA graduate of The Citadel, he can be reached at Jamesbecktennis@gmail.com.
