Coco Gauff

Don’t Forget That Coco Gauff’s First Major Final Was At Roland Garros!

May 25, 2024 by Randy Walker Leave a Comment

by Randy Walker

@TennisPublisher

Coco Gauff winning the 2023 U.S. Open for her first major tournament victory was obviously a hallmark event in her career.

However, it is easy to forget that Gauff’s first appearance in a major singles final came at Roland Garros in 2022, where she lost to Iga Swiatek by a 6-1, 6-3 one-sided scoreline.

Under the stewardship of her father, Professional Tennis Registry (PTR) certified coach Corey Gauff, Coco made her first deep foray into a major tournament field and announced that she was now ready to contend for major titles.

En route to the final in Paris, Gauff, then age 18, defeated Rebecca Marino, Alison Van Uytvanck, Kaia Kanepi, No. 31 seed Elise Mertens, Sloane Stephens and Martina Trevisan before losing to Swiatek by a 6-1, 6-3 scoreline.

Now, only two years later and with the addition of Brad Gilbert to her coaching team, Gauff could once again make a run at Roland Garros. While she is the reigning U.S. Open champion, Gauff will not have as much attention on her in Paris as one would expect, due in part by the spirited new WTA rivalry between Swiatek, the world No. 1, and Aryna Sabalenka, the world No. 2, who played back-to-back finals against each other in both Madrid and Rome. Add to the that, the incredible swan-song season of fellow American Danielle Collins, who is playing the best tennis of her career in her final year on tour, winning the Miami Open and in Charleston and proving that she is also a Grand Slam tournament title contender.

Coco Gauff Does Rolex Proud With U.S. Open Victory

September 12, 2023 by tennisbloggers Leave a Comment

After two weeks of world-class tennis, Rolex Testimonee Coco Gauff triumphed in New York to claim the 2023 US Open women’s singles crown and her first Grand Slam® title. In doing so, the 19-year-old becomes the youngest American player to win the US Open since 1999 and rises to a career-high ranking of world No. 3.
The fourth and final Grand Slam tournament of the calendar year is seen as one of the highlights of the season by both players and spectators. Renowned for its electric atmosphere and impassioned fans, this year’s edition was no exception with Gauff feeding off the exuberant energy in the stands throughout the tournament and, in particular, during the final where she staged a thrilling 2-6, 6-3, 6-2 comeback victory.

With origins dating back to 1881, the US Open is one of the oldest tennis championships in the world. Rolex’s special relationship with the tournament as Official Timekeeper was inaugurated in 2018, further strengthening the Swiss watchmaker’s presence at the heart of the game with the support of all four Grand Slam tournaments. As part of its pivotal partnerships in sport, the brand helps to foster the development of tennis by strengthening its commitment to young talent and the most iconic athletes whose exceptional feats have brought excellence and greatness to the game.

Gauff displayed peerless composure in the final to withstand the challenge of her powerful opponent and it was the American’s unwavering determination that saw her reign supreme on one of tennis’ biggest stages. As the match went on, Gauff grew in confidence and showed no sign of nerves in the closing exchanges, sealing the historic victory with a superb backhand winner on her first match point. Overcome with emotion, she immediately fell to the floor and sat on the sideline with her head in her hands before making a heart sign to the cheering fans. Almost the entirety of the star-studded, partisan crowd inside the Arthur Ashe Stadium, the US Open’s iconic centerpiece arena with a seating capacity of close to 23,800 – by far the largest court in Grand Slam tennis – leapt to their feet and erupted in a frenzied celebration of the new champion that they had willed to victory.

Winning a Grand Slam title in one’s home country is often regarded as a crowning moment for tennis players and to achieve this feat at such a young age speaks volumes of Gauff’s committed spirit and dedication. Before lifting the coveted trophy, Gauff climbed the stands to share an emotional moment with her parents, Corey and Candi Gauff, who used to take her to the US Open as a child to watch her idols play. All three embraced and cried tears of joy in recognition that their sacrifices had resulted in one of the sport’s greatest prizes.

Reflecting on the significance of her achievement, Coco Gauff said: “I feel like I’m in a little bit of shock at the moment. I feel like God puts you through trials and tribulations, and that makes this even sweeter. I’m thankful for this moment. I don’t have any words.”

With this victory, Gauff joins an illustrious list of Rolex Testimonees to have triumphed in New York, which includes Rod Laver, Chris Evert, Stefan Edberg, Pat Rafter, Justine Henin, Roger Federer, Juan Martín del Potro, Angelique Kerber, Sloane Stephens, Bianca Andreescu, Dominic Thiem, Iga Świątek and Carlos Alcaraz.

The US Open Women��s Singles Championship Trophy is made from sterling silver; across the front of the Trophy features the engravings of some of the most famous names in tennis history, alongside which Gauff now belongs. Whilst they cannot take the original trophies home, champions are given a replica with the same dimensions as the original trophy – unlike at the other three Grand Slam tournaments.

While glory belonged to Gauff this year, several other members of the Rolex family delivered strong performances, including Alcaraz, who reached the men’s singles semi-finals. Fellow Testimonees Qinwen Zheng and Taylor Fritz both reached the quarter-finals; and Caroline Wozniacki displayed her relentless pursuit of excellence and resilience with a remarkable run at her third tournament since coming out of retirement. After a three-and-a-half year absence from the game, the former World No. 1 from Denmark captivated crowds and reached the fourth round.

Gauff has long been destined to reach the highest heights in tennis. After bursting onto the scene with an extraordinary performance at The Championships, Wimbledon in 2019, where she made history by becoming the tournament’s youngest qualifier, aged 15, and making it to the fourth round in her Grand Slam debut, her emergence and career to date has captured the world’s attention.

Always a prodigious talent, Gauff’s triumph provides a fitting conclusion to the 2023 Grand Slam season and adds another memorable chapter in the tournament’s rich history. The focus of the tennis world now turns to the annual team competitions including the Davis Cup and the Laver Cup, which takes place for the first time in Vancouver, Canada from 22–24 September, at which Rolex is a Founding Partner and Official Timekeeper.

Roland Garros Day 11 Picks – Holger Vitus Nodskov Rune Is The Man

June 6, 2023 by tennisbloggers Leave a Comment

Ons Jabeur vs. Bea Haddad-Maia

Ons Jabeur declared herself 100 percent fit for Roland Garros at the start of the event, after months dealing with injury woes. Perhaps she came into the French Championships with little expectations, but she will reach the semifinals in Paris for the first time with a win over Haddad-Maia who won’t have much fight after her nearly four hour round of 16 win.

Iga Swiatek vs. Coco Gauff

This quarterfinal is a rematch of the 2022 French final that was won by Swiatek 6-1, 6-3. Swiatek has cruised into the semifinals losing only nine games, while Gauff has been off at times. Swiatek will face added resistance against Gauff but ultimately will prevail.

Alexander Zverev vs. Tomas Etcheverry

Etcheverry, playing in his first major quarterfinal, is going to, deep down, be happy with his result, while Zverev feels he has more track to run on in Paris and will win in straight sets.

Holger Rune vs. Casper Ruud

If you go to the Universal Tennis (MyUTR.com) website, you will see that Casper Ruud has a 15.92 rating. You will also find out that Holger Rune is listed by his full name Holger Vitus Nodskov Rune and his UTR is 16.09. The man with four names will prevail.

Coco Gauff To Play Billie Jean King Cup Match For USA In Hometown of Delray Beach, Florida

February 3, 2023 by Randy Walker Leave a Comment

The USTA announced that Coco Gauff and the United States Billie Jean King Cup Team will play at the Delray Beach Tennis Center April 14-15 in a 2023 Billie Jean King Cup by Gainbridge Qualifying competition vs. Austria.

Billie Jean King Cup – celebrating its 60th anniversary in 2023 – is the ‘World Cup of Tennis,’ with more than 100 nations competing every year. The Qualifying competition is one of nine being held around the world in April, with the winners of each advancing to the Billie Jean King Cup Finals this fall to compete for the title. The United States leads all nations in all-time titles, with 18.

The Qualifier is a best-of-five match series that begins Friday, April 14, with two singles matches. Two reverse singles matches and a doubles match will follow on Saturday, April 15, with an amended Saturday schedule possible if one nation clinches victory in the third or fourth singles match.

Gauff is set to compete for the American team and Captain Kathy Rinaldi, who will nominate a total of four or five players to compete against the Austrians. The historical roster of U.S. Billie Jean King Cup participants is a veritable tennis hall of fame, and the U.S. currently has nine players ranked in the singles Top 50. The final team nominations will be made no later than March 13.

Tickets will go on sale to the general public on Tuesday, February 7, via Ticketmaster.com, and are available for as low as $25 per day. Single- and two-day ticket packages are available. Visit usta.com/billiejeankingcup for more information.

USTA members will have the opportunity to purchase tickets in advance through an exclusive presale beginning today and running through Monday, or while supplies last.

Billie Jean King Cup events have had demonstrative effects on the local communities they’ve visited in recent years, with last year’s Qualifying event held in Asheville, N.C., generating an anticipated $8 million for the local economy.

“The Palm Beach County Sports Commission is thrilled to host the Billie Jean King Cup in The Palm Beaches,” said George Linley, Executive Director of the Palm Beach County Sports Commission. “This is a premier international team tennis event that will be exciting for sports fans around the world as well as our local hospitality and business community which will benefit greatly from the economic impact brought by an influx of visitors.”

The U.S. Billie Jean King Cup Team has played at the Delray Beach Tennis Center three times before, in 2005, 2007 and 2013, when the competition was known as Fed Cup. The U.S. went 3-0 in those competitions, with the 2013 matches featuring Serena and Venus Williams. The Americans last played in Florida in 2017, defeating the Czech Republic in Tampa en route to winning the title that year.

“We are excited to welcome the Billie Jean King Cup to Delray Beach,” said Laura Bowen, Executive Director of USTA Florida. “From Chris Evert to Serena Williams, Florida tennis courts have served as the proving ground for many great champions of the women’s game. We can’t wait to cheer on Florida’s own Captain Kathy Rinaldi, the incredible Coco Gauff and the entire U.S. team, as they show the world the power of women’s tennis to inspire, engage and win over a new generation of players and fans.”

Wilson is the official ball of the U.S. Billie Jean King Cup Team.

Iga Swiatek Is The Women’s Favorite To Win The 2022 U.S. Open

August 29, 2022 by tennisbloggers Leave a Comment

Sportsbooks are expecting a big jump for the World number one this year. Iga Swiatek has never even made it to a quarterfinal at the US Open, yet sportsbooks are backing her to win the whole thing.

Swiatek is given +400 odds, or an implied 20% chance to win the US Open. Her biggest competition is expected to be Simona Halep who’s also searching for her first US Open win. Halep is given +800 odds, or an implied 11.1% chance to be victorious.

Last year’s winner Emma Raducanu is 7^th on the market with +2000 odds, or an implied 4.8% chance to win her second straight US Open. That puts her ahead of former world number one Naomi Osaka who’s given +2500 odds, or an implied 3.8% chance.

The best odds given to an American this year belong to Coco Gauff who’s given +1600 odds, or an implied 5.9% chance. That puts Gauff third on the market.

Quote from OddsChecker spokesman Kyle Newman, “The women’s bracket is wide open. Last year we saw a qualifier win the event for the first time in history. So we know anything can happen with these women. For now, Swiatek is the favorite thanks to a phenomenal season. However, it wouldn’t be a shock to see any of the women win this year. That’s why even though Swiatek is the favorite, her odds are only equal to those of Rafa Nadal on the men’s side, second on the market. With a wide open field comes much longer odds.”

For more detailed information, go to https://www.oddschecker.com/us/tennis/us-open-womens

Iga Swiatek Continues Dominance With Roland Garros Victory

June 4, 2022 by Randy Walker Leave a Comment

Iga Swiatek won the French Open for a second time in two years defeating Coco Gauff 6-1, 6-3 in the final to continue to stake her claim as a dominant world No. 1.

The win was her 35^th straight match victory and won the title losing only one set en route. From the first ball of the match, Swiatek showcased her aggressive baseline play, dictated by her ferocious forehand, to try to establish her presence early against the 18-year-old Gauff, playing in her first major final. She jumped to a 4-0 lead before Gauff got on the board. Gauff did have glimmer of hope as she broke for a 2-0 lead in the second set, but was quickly overtaken by Swiatek, who after the hiccup, rolled to win six of the final seven games of the match.

Swiatek also won the Roland Garros title in 2020, when the event was staged in the fall due to the COVID-19 pandemic. She won the title then as the No. 54-ranked player but in 2022, she won it as the world No. 1. Swiatek assumed the top-ranked by default in March with the sudden retirement of reigning U.S. and Australian Open champion Ash Barty.

With the win Swiatek sas now won her past six tournaments and is 42-3 this season. She lost in the semifinals of the Australian Open, the season’s first major championship, to American Danielle Collins.

Swiatek is the only player representing Poland to win a major singles title.

Aussie Open Star Kenin Joins Serena Williams, Coco Gauff on U.S. Fed Cup Team

January 28, 2020 by Randy Walker Leave a Comment

The USTA and United States Fed Cup Captain Kathy Rinaldi today announced that 23-time Grand Slam champion and world No. 9 Serena Williams, No. 15 Sofia Kenin, No. 19 Alison Riske, No. 67 Coco Gauff and former doubles No. 1 Bethanie Mattek-Sands will represent the U.S. in its Fed Cup by BNP Paribas Qualifying tie vs. Latvia February 7-8 at Angel Of The Winds Arena in Everett, Wash.

World No. 33 Anasasija Sevastova, No. 45 and 2017 French Open champion Jelena Ostapenko, No. 263 Diana Marcinkevica and No. 492 Daniela Vismane will represent Latvia for Captain Adrians Zguns in the best-of-five match series, which will be played on a hard court inside Angel Of The Winds Arena.

Play will begin at 7:30 p.m. local time (10:30 p.m. ET) on Friday and 3:30 p.m. (6:30 p.m. ET) on Saturday. Friday’s two singles matches will pit each country’s No. 1 player against the other’s No. 2. Saturday will feature the two reverse singles matches – No. 1 vs. No. 1; No. 2 vs. No. 2 – followed by a possible fifth-and-decisive doubles match. A revised schedule for Saturday may take place if a team clinches in the third or fourth match.

The matchups and order of play for the weekend’s matches will be determined at the official draw ceremony, which will be held at noon local time on Thursday, February 6, at Angel Of The Winds Arena. Team captains may substitute up to two of their nominated players prior to Thursday’s draw.

Tickets are available at USTA.com/fedcup. Tennis Channel will present live daily coverage nationally in the U.S.

The winner of this matchup advances to the 2020 Fed Cup by BNP Paribas Finals April 14-19 in Budapest, Hungary – a new format for the Finals similar to the World Cup in which 12 nations converge on one venue to compete for the title.

The USTA has partnered with local sponsors Amazon Prime Video, Funko and Avis. Fed Cup events have had demonstrative effects on the local communities they’ve visited in recent years. The U.S. hosted Fed Cup in Asheville, N.C., in 2018, an event that generated nearly $5 million in economic impact for the region and prompted Asheville to host Fed Cup again in 2019. San Antonio hosted a Fed Cup tie in April 2019, with an estimated economic impact of $3.5 million.

Williams, 38, last played Fed Cup in February 2018 in her competitive return to tennis following the birth of her daughter. She’s 13-0 in singles and 3-2 in doubles over 10 Fed Cup ties played since 1999, when she and sister Venus were a part of the Americans’ Fed Cup title-winning team. Williams won her 73rd career WTA singles title recently in Auckland, New Zealand.

Kenin, 21, is ranked No. 15 and has reached the Australian Open semifinals in Melbourne this week. She reached a career-high ranking of No. 12 in 2019, a breakout year in which she won three WTA titles and led the WTA in hard-court match wins (38).

Riske, 29, is ranked No. 19 and reached the 2019 Wimbledon quarterfinals, defeating world No. 1 Ashleigh Barty in the process. Riske finished 2019 ranked No. 18 in the world after beginning it ranked 63rd.

Gauff, 15, is ranked 67th but is projected to rise into the Top 50 after her run to the fourth round of the Australian Open, where she defeated defending champion Naomi Osaka. The youngest player in the Top 100 by nearly three years, Gauff made her splash debut on tour in 2019, becoming the youngest player to reach the fourth round at Wimbledon since Jennifer Capriati in 1991. She would be the second-youngest American Fed Cup representative ever, after Capriati.

Mattek-Sands, 34, is a five-time women’s doubles and four-time mixed doubles Grand Slam champion. She’s currently ranked No. 23 in the world in doubles and won her 27th career WTA doubles title in with Kenin in Beijing last year. Mattek-Sands is 7-1 in Fed Cup doubles over 10 ties played for the U.S. since making her debut in 2009.

Fed Cup is the world’s largest annual international team competition in women’s sport, with approximately 100 nations taking part each year. The U.S. holds an overall 152-38 record in Fed Cup competition with a 42-7 record in home ties. For more information, including access to player and historical Fed Cup records, please go to www.usta.com/fedcup or www.fedcup.com.

Keep up with Team USA using hashtag #TeamUSATennis on Facebook (@USTA), on Twitter (@USTA), and on Instagram (@USTA). Wilson is the official ball of the U.S. Fed Cup team. Deloitte is the official team sponsor of the U.S. Fed Cup Team.