By Shara Talia Taylor
A backhand down the line of the court was the final point as Coco Gauff won her first ever Grand Slam event, the woman’s singles championship at the 2023 U.S. Open.
The Nineteen-year-old became the third American teenager to win the title, following Serena Williams (1999) and Tracy Austin (1979, 1981). The Delray Beach, Fla. native delivered a challenging 2-6, 6-3, 6-2 victory over Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus last Saturday at Arthur Ashe Stadium in Queens New York.
“It means so much to me,” she said about winning her first grand slam title on home soil, when asked on stage following the match. “I realize God puts you through tribulations and trials and this makes this moment even sweeter than I could imagine.”
Before reaching the finals, Gauff faced Jeļena Ostapenko of Latvia on Tuesday winning 6-0, 6-2 and took on Karolina Muchová of the Czech Republic on Thursday winning 6-4, 7-5. Her match with Muchová was interrupted by protestors. They wore “end fossil fuels” tee-shirts and yelled delaying the game about 50 minutes.
“It was done in a peaceful way, so I can’t get too mad at it,” Gauff said. “Obviously I don’t want it to happen when I’m winning up 6-4, 6-0, and I wanted the momentum to keep going. But hey, if that’s what they felt they needed to do to get their voices heard, I can’t really get upset at it.”
Gauff led 5-1 in the first set, but Muchová powered back and won the next three games. Muchová said compared to her other matches she didn’t feel good. “This one today you need to bring, you know, maybe 100% to beat her because she’s top athlete, top player,” she said not believing it was her best tennis.
Saturday, Gauff and Sabalenka met Billie Jean King in the middle of the court In celebration of 50 years of the WTA and of equal prize money and then started the match. Sabalenka won the first set with powerful deep shots as Coco ran back and forth defending. Gauff rallied back with strong serves reaching speeds of 111 and 115 in the second set. Gauff was in her element by the third set. She was going to the net for points and making Sabalenka run cross court to reach her shots.
Of her mind set approaching the match, “I honestly wasn’t nervous going in,” said Gauff. “She was just playing great tennis, and 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.”
Gauff fell to the ground in joy after her final point. She then went to hug her parents in the crowd with tears in her eyes and later kneeled in prayer back on the court.
“Thank you to the people who didn’t believe in me,” Gauff said before she accepted her trophy on stage. “Honestly, to those who thought you were putting water on my fire, you were really adding gas to it and now I’m really burning so bright right now.”
She also thanked he parents, family and team. Gauff received $3,000,000 for winning the tournament.
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