She was no exception to tradition. Behind her backhand passing that fell straight ahead, which crucified Aryna Sabalenka (2-6, 6-3, 6-2), Coco Gauff let the tears flow, her back flat on the Central of Wonders. Then she climbed to her box to fall into the arms of her cornermen, Pere Riba and Brad Gilbert, the very ones who instilled smiles and new confidence in the game of the American prodigy, transfigured and sparkling since the beginning of summer.
At 19, Coco Gauff won her first Grand Slam title on Saturday in New York, in her native country, by reversing a Belarusian who liquefied over the course of the match to finish the match with 46 unforced errors, tired of the Homeric defenses of a young American woman, who eventually became indomitable.
And yet, the sixth in the world barely offered anything other than her defensive valor for almost a set and a half. Tense, tense from the start of the match and let go by a far too fragile forehand on which the Belarusian obviously tried hard to press more and more, Coco Gauff, broken in the first game of the match, did not offer anything grandiose for her second Grand Slam final, after the one lost at Roland-Garros in 2022.
Gauff, first tucked into her defensive costume
In contrast, the future world No. 1 was neither transcendent nor flamboyant, however. In a final peppered with unforced errors and thin in terms of rallies and nice points for 1h15 (46 unforced errors for 22 winning points accumulated over the first two sets), the Belarusian hit everything that moved, without always the right one. discernment and sometimes hastily. But that was enough to largely dominate an American who was not at all inclined towards the offensive.
The match could even have been completed quickly if Sabalenka had made the break at the start of the second set. But she wasted both opportunities and Gauff, woman of the summer on the WTA circuit (titles in Washington and Cincinnati), gradually regained sensations and hope. Especially since the Belarusian, in turn, hesitated and clearly tensed up. The engagement was less straightforward and she gave up her face-off on an unwelcome double fault at 2-1. The match didn’t reach great heights, but there was a match now.
The world No. 6 felt that the momentum was reversing. She was more committed with her backhand long line, longer on the forehand and it was enough to seize the fierce Belarusian machine and return to one set everywhere, with only six winning points registered in the game, in two sets!
Sabalenka watered in forehand
Doubts suddenly piled up over Sabalenka’s head. A little slower, she played everything on the arm and neglected the small supports. Opposite, Gauff was pumped up and the Arthur-Ashe carried her heroine high, who became much more emboldened, countered, gained centimeters in the court to make the break from the start of the third set, behind the twentieth forehand fault of the winner of the 2023 Australian Open, then a magnificent race to catch a drop shot and delight the opposing service with a smash.
After scampering to defend and not sink for 1 hour 15 minutes, Gauff was now in control of the field and Sabalenka kept throwing forehands out the window, to the point of conceding a double break in the process. At 4-0, the Atlanta native was not far from a fourth title this season and the greatest happiness of her young career. Also two games away from offering the Flushing-Meadows center, which has become completely electric, a success made in the USA, something it had not celebrated since that of Sloane Stephens in 2017.
Gauff calmly climbed to the top
Towel on her head at 1-4, while she had requested a medical timeout to have her left quadriceps massaged, Sabalenka seemed a little tired. But it was still necessary to conclude for Gauff. And when you’re 19 and everything becomes huge, it’s not necessarily easy. Having come within three points of the precipice in the semi-finals against Madison Keys, the Belarusian and her big firecrackers were still capable of setting off one last fireworks display.
But Gauff, despite the loss of a service game, did not disassemble. She remained impassive, solid in her defensive outfit, prickly on a rolled backhand to get the double break again and serve for the supreme crown, at 5-2. Sabalenka was still making sweeping gestures to cling to the wall. Gauff, she calmly climbed to the top. On a backhand passing along the line, the American accomplished her dream as a little girl, the one she had been constantly promised since she was 14 years old. Programmed to win, announced to reign, Gauff was made queen on Saturday, at her home, at 19 years old.