2023-09-10 00:19:10
“As a kid, I came to this tournament and I sat in these stands to see Venus and Serena play… It’s incredible,” said the 19-year-old in one of her very first comments.
After a first failure in the final of a Major in 2022 at Roland-Garros, and while she had never passed the quarterfinals at Flushing Meadows, Gauff won 2-6, 6-3, 6-2 against Sabalenka by taking advantage of the swarm of unforced errors from his opponent (46).
With this victory, she will also rise to third place in the world on Monday, her best ranking. As for Sabalenka, she was already assured of becoming No. 1 after the defeat of defending champion Iga Swiatek in the round of 16.
In front of more than 28,000 spectators who came to support her in the stands and around the Arthur-Ashe court, Gauff gave a lesson in courage.
While her opponent tried to take her away with her big, powerful shots, the American responded with a heroic defense, which completely made her opponent crack and which must have pleased her coach Brad Gilbert, the former player who scored a book called Winning ugly.
“Proud of you”
“I’m fucking proud of you,” Gilbert said to his protégé, taking her in his arms.
US President Joe Biden and one of his predecessors Barak Obama were among the first to congratulate Gauff on social media.
“You electrified Arthur Ashe Stadium and the entire nation,” Mr. Biden wrote. “We couldn’t have been more proud of you on and off the court, and we know the best is yet to come,” Mr. Obama wrote.
In the stands, where director Spike Lee, NBA player Kevin Durant as well as actresses Diane Keaton and Nicole Kidman encouraged her, another man was particularly moved: Corey, the father and mentor of Cori known as Coco.
“This is the first time I’ve seen my father cry. He didn’t want me to say it. He thinks he’s tough, but in fact he’s not,” said his daughter just before receiving the cup. coveted. And, in the process, according to American protocol, the check for three million dollars promised to the winner of the women’s singles, a prize equal to that which the winner of the men’s singles will receive on Sunday, Novak Djokovic or Daniil Medvedev.
Because fifty years ago, in 1973, the US Open became the first tournament to distribute the same prize money to men and women, under pressure from American player Billie Jean King.
Then, upon receiving the check, Gauff turned to King and said, “Thank you Billie for fighting for this!”
“A thousand lights”
In her thanks, the champion also wanted to say a word to “all those who did not believe” in her.
“Five weeks ago I won a WTA 500 tournament and some said I wouldn’t do better. Then three weeks ago I won a WTA 1000 and some said I wouldn’t do better. no further. And today, here it is…”, she took obvious pleasure in saying.
“Those who wanted to put water in my gas, you only poured gasoline on my fire and today, I shine brightly!”, she said.
The contrast was logically obvious with the sadness that Sabalenka tried to camouflage behind nervous laughter, interspersed with silence to repress her tears.
To the point that the spectators, who had been so unequivocal during the game, loudly applauded her in turn.
“You could have supported me like that during the match,” she told them.
“Coco was incredible and she deserves the victory,” she admitted before adding “hugs to my family who stayed up to watch.” Unlike her who lives in Florida, her parents stayed in Belarus.
And she wanted to end this evening, which was so hard to swallow, on a note of second-degree humor: “thanks to my team, they know they are going to be fired!”.
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#Coco #Gauff #shines #brightly