Mature beyond her fifteen years with a game that can outsmart and outplay veteran WTA players and champions, Coco Gauff introduced herself as the newest WTA force as she defeated former Roland Garros champion Jelena Ostapenko in three sets today.
Just fifteen and in her first year as a pro, Gauff has now added her second WTA title, she won Washington DC Citi Open doubles with Caty Mcnally in August, a feat that considerably upstages the legendary player she is most compared to, Serena Williams, who won her first WTA title at seventeen in Paris.
Though she endured some bad results earlier this year – like a 61 61 pounding from Quin Gleason, the former Notre Dame player, in Bonita Springs, Gauff is on a headline making roll now, since her fourth round run at Wimbledon this summer, where she beat Venus Williams in straight sets.
Gauff also won rounds at the US Open before losing a tight duel to two time major champ Naomi Osaka.
Already Gauff has proved she can win most of her WTA matches, able to figure out and solve the games of successful pros with far more experience.
Gauff has the ability to quickly erase stinging losses like the one to Gleason and the one this week in qualies to Tamara Korpatsch, and then shift gears and produce her best tennis.
Just how good Gauff has the potential to become is a question that will intrigue the sport for many years to come.
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1 2 3 … 5 Next »Jon King · October 14, 2019 at 12:29 am
I suggest folks go review Serena’s Wikipedia page and see how amazing her accomplishments were by age 18 once she got some match experience under her belt. The reason she was not winning at age 15 is simply because her father held her back from match play for the most part. The exercise in fantasy that Gauff is going to somehow eclipse or even remotely compare to Serena simply because her parents allowed her to play more matches at a younger age is comical.
A 15 year old Serena would have eaten Gauff alive. Way stronger, just as fast, way, way more weapons. If they were the same age today, and played 50 matches over the course of their careers, Serena would win 50 out of 50 and likely never drop a set. Gauff has absolutely nothing that a same aged Serena would not dominate.
I get it that Serena is not likeable for many people and Gauff seems so sweet…but seriously, to even say Serena and Gauff in the same breath as tennis players and imply that we need to see how Gauff will compare over her career, is beyond ridiculous.
catherine · October 14, 2019 at 1:12 am
I haven’t got a crystal ball so I’m not making predictions so all I’ll say at the moment is that Gauff seems to have a good all-round game, no glaring weakness and nothing standout, not like Graf at the same age (I didn’t see Serena then). She lost that 2nd set 1-6 and then just let Penko become unglued, which is a winning tactic as we’ve often seen. I expect to see players getting a bit intimidated for a while until they get the strategy right. So the jury’s out as far as GOATS are concerned. But nice at present for the WTA and US women’s tennis.
catherine · October 14, 2019 at 6:06 am
Petko gives an interview for Der Standard in which she claims women’s tennis is better than men’s because it doesn’t depend on the Big 3. Andrea may already be a bit out of date there, but the main news is that she has no plans for retirement and will play next year – for the Olympics presumably. And maybe she just likes playing and writing about it.
catherine · October 14, 2019 at 6:38 am
Andrea also says that tennis is ‘huge’ in Asia. Presumably she didn’t mean Tianjin (men’s in Shanghai is ok) because I looked especially and there were no more spectators for the women’s final than there had been all the week. Nil in other words. The WTA should move this tournament. Who’s making money ? It’s a disgrace. And there’ll be no more events in HK for the foreseeable. I’d be interested to see how many throng to Shenzhen.
Basketball and football are big in China.
Hartt · October 14, 2019 at 8:01 am
Coco is certainly competitive by nature.
“The American already has plans for some of her prize money from her first singles title. “I know Halloween is coming up, and it’s one of my favorite times of year, so I guess I’ll splurge a little bit on my costume and make sure it’s right,” said Gauff.
Her costume will remain “a secret, because I know last year they had a WTA contest for the best costumes, and I came in third [place]. This year my goal is to come in first!” (WTA site) 🙂
catherine · October 14, 2019 at 8:16 am
Why does the WTA remind me of a kindergarten ?
Hartt · October 14, 2019 at 8:49 am
For a Kasatkina fan, seeing her defeat Ostapenko in that Charleston final was enjoyable. Dasha simply stayed solid, keeping the ball in play. Ostapenko made more and more UFEs and got more and more frustrated.
I like Dasha and hope she can get back to her best tennis, because when she is playing well she is a lot of fun to watch.
Hartt · October 14, 2019 at 8:59 am
An American poster commented on how much attention Coco’s title was getting in the US media, so I checked online. CNN in particular had pieces about Coco, including an interview where she talked about some of the celebrities who tweeted their congratulations.
If Coco can cope with the hype and not let it affect her tennis, this could be positive by increasing interest in tennis in the US.
Scoop Malinowski · October 14, 2019 at 9:05 am
Jon, Serena tried her hand at the pros at 15 and got scorched, losing badly early in qualies to Annie Miller in Quebec, winning only two games, she was not ready, Richard took her out for a year. She lost in qualies in her next three WTA events. Then she finally won a main draw match in Chicago and also beat Seles and Pierce. So it was not so quick out of the gates for Serena, like it has been for Gauff. Gauff is way ahead of Serena. No knows if Gauff’s development will also accelerate from this point on, and maintain superiority over Serena’s progression. No one has the Andrew’s broken crystal ball. Anything is possible. To rule out Gauff being superior to Serena is just a prediction like everyone else’s.
Andrew Miller · October 14, 2019 at 9:17 am
Hartt I may join in as a D.Kat fan. Just a little upset she seemed to throw in the towel at the US Open against an in form Konta. I don’t blame her, Konta was on fire in their match and as Konta made up her mind D. Kat played as if all hope was lost! Never a matter of losing, just how a player loses. Kind of prize not throwing in the towel. I appreciated the Konta game and mentality more with that match.
Andrew Miller · October 14, 2019 at 9:25 am
Always liked Serena Williams. Maybe everyone’s experience here too, met her a few times with Venus and they were always extremely decent and gracious. Very brief every time.
I think if anyone watched them playing back in the mid 1990s, which is when Serena was 14,15 they’d probably recall that these kids were serving hard and hitting hard, accurately, and with nearly every shot played on tour at that moment. They served harder than most WTA pros and certainly hit a harder ball and were already very good on the knowledge side of the game. No mindless ball bashing here.
In front of a microphone everything changes for them. I’d chalk that down to there always being something on the line, fame money whatever. But this wasn’t the case when they were teenagers. They were fun. No smashing racquets or anything and a delight in person.
I’m not describing an alternate reality either, just the history of the players. I’m proud to have their autographs.
As for Richard, man what a character. I liked the mom better, she had a large presence and a lot of backbone. Dad was to put it generously an exceptional marketer. Of course not much of a tennis player! A better basketball player, but know I played him when he was already pretty up there in age. I enjoyed acing him off the court in doubles!!!
Andrew Miller · October 14, 2019 at 9:40 am
As for CocoG will say it again, when you win a WTA tournament no matter if you are a lucky loser or a wildcard, that’s great. She’s a good player and I hope she takes it in stride. I especially hope she makes a point of returning to Linz next year to defend her title.
The Linz announcing was pretty funny. I’ll have to look now and see who covered the event for the transmission. I couldn’t place the male announcer for the highlight reel.
Enjoyed seeing Barbie Schett. Anyone else remember her French Open runs? She had a nice power game (maybe a big ball basher brigade member but a pleasant one!). Good personality from what I remember from those past ESPN moments.
Linz shows and showed a lot of class. Nice gift of a bottle of I presume Austrian wine to Coco Gauff.
The feed was a little shabby gotta say though, bad lighting or something in Linz. Either it’s a dark stadium inside or they switched to lightbulbs that don’t do justice to the action.
Another nice reminder tennis is an international sport. Hope Gauff returns to the site of this triumph next year.
Jon King · October 14, 2019 at 9:41 am
Scoop, the reason Serena was slow out of the gate was that she was pulled from juniors at age 9 and had little match play in her teen years. Gauff played every junior event, all the big ones, year after year after year. So its not a fair comparison. If you put Gauff in the same position, and dropped her into the pros at age 15 with no match play from age 9-14, she would take a few years to get up to speed of match play.
The bottom line is Serena is a Lebron type freak of nature. Young Serena was very fast, very powerful, very accurate, very focused. She would have owned Gauff with her serve, her returns, her forehand, her backhand. Speed would be close.
Andrew, great comment. We practice at the same courts where Venus does in the off season. Mr. Williams comes a lot and still grabs the tube to pick up balls. Serena has been there a handful of times. She is amazing off court, way more outgoing than Venus. Serena came over and talked to my girl and posed for photos. Venus is much quieter but always gives her a nod as they pass. My daughter is quiet also so the nod is about as far as the relationship will go!
Scoop Malinowski · October 14, 2019 at 9:47 am
Jon, what if Serena did play more junior tournaments, maybe she would be even better. No one knows for sure. Maybe her practicing with college players and male junior hitting partners instead of playing juniors was better for her development. No one knows for sure. I talked to a few of the junior boys and college males she hit with daily through her teens, maybe that was better experience than playing juniors. Serena took that year off from WTA at 16, what did she do in that year to get ready for the comeback at 17? Hit with many males and college players and junior boys. SO that got her ready for her comeback at 17. Gauff played the junior events and also I’m quite sure she hit with junior boys and college players (male). So maybe Gauff got the best of both worlds for her development. Maybe Mr Gauff did it better and smarter than Richard Williams did. No one knows for sure. All we know now is that Coco is well ahead of Serena in her development at the same age. Where it goes from here nobody knows.
Scoop Malinowski · October 14, 2019 at 9:48 am
Gauff will return to Linz, IF the appearance fee suits her agents demands.
Scoop Malinowski · October 14, 2019 at 9:56 am
Andrew, you are the first person I know who ever saw Richard Williams play tennis! I know some of the hitting partners of Vee and Ree and they all said they never saw Richard hit one shot on a tennis court. You are now qualified to write a feature article, Facing Richard Williams 🙂 Venus used to be far more sociable and fun to talk to. I did a Biofile with her when she was about 17 at Madison Square Garden and she was as bubbly as any player I ever talked with, big smiles, laughing, giggling, loved the group Green Day, I have to dig up that Biofile, she was a barrel of fun, got a photo with her too, huge smile. She was a total extrovert, somewhere along the line she changed and became more introverted. Zoltan Seles said once, “Tennis deforms you.”
catherine · October 14, 2019 at 10:02 am
Andrew – Linz is an established tournament – not sure why it needed Gauff to win it to remind us that tennis is an international sport. The grey court made everything look dim and the video wasn’t well lit.
I doubt Gauff will be returning next year, it’s a minor event. (Also Hitler’s birthplace, alhough I’d guess that’s not on the itinerary.) Popular with German players.
Jon King · October 14, 2019 at 10:15 am
I guess what I am missing is why you say Gauff is ahead of Serena in development at the same age. Serena’s serves, returns, ground strokes, were all vastly superior at the same age.
You mention Serena lost a pro match. Gauff has lost to plenty of players ranked from 130-200 the past year. Gauff just played more matches than Serena at this age. Not sure how that equates to development.
If you are saying Gauff has more match play experience at the same age, sure. But I guess we are using the term development differently.
If we could magically drop Serena into the exact same match schedule as Gauff at the same age, Serena would have way better results.
Hartt · October 14, 2019 at 10:31 am
Someone posted on another site that Kerber has pulled the plug on her season, although I couldn’t find confirmation of that.
catherine · October 14, 2019 at 10:45 am
Hartt – I would think so. She w/d from Luxembourg and might have qualified for Zhuhai but that wasn’t confirmed. I didn’t get the impression she was particularly committed to playing anywhere at present. No coach etc.
Lots of uncertainties there. I’ll see if I can find out more.
catherine · October 14, 2019 at 10:53 am
Nothing on Angie’s twitter but that doesn’t mean anything. I suppose she’ll tell us sometime. Just hope she hasn’t pulled the plug on her career, quite yet.
Petko wins the Jana Novotna award in Luxembourg. Nice.
Jeff · October 14, 2019 at 11:06 am
I can’t believe Angie retired. That has to be false. She has ended her season, apparently.
Hartt · October 14, 2019 at 11:10 am
Bianca has another sponsor, although I doubt this company can afford the big $ that Rolex can.
“She has been working with vegan fashion brand P8NT to develop a line of vegan beauty products. The brand focuses on producing its products from vegan ingredients. This month, Andreescu and the company have launched a campaign for its line of vegan products.
Darren Goldberg, who started the company in 2018, said they had approached Andreescu earlier in the year. Goldberg is also Canadian and played tennis. He won two Canadian Junior championships in his tennis career. The businessman said they had chosen Andreescu because of her charm, determination and will to succeed.” (tennistonic.com)
catherine · October 14, 2019 at 11:12 am
Jeff – Angie hasn’t retired, not as I understand it. She only had one more possible tournament, in China, so she’s probably just thought it wasn’t worth it, with an injury as well.
catherine · October 14, 2019 at 11:14 am
https://www.wtatennis.com/news/petkovic-presented-jana-novotna-award-luxembourg
Comments from Andrea very generous and typical of her.
Hartt · October 14, 2019 at 12:23 pm
Catherine, thanks for the link.
Hartt · October 14, 2019 at 1:43 pm
Bianca had a courtside seat at the Toronto Raptors game and the mascot gave her a jersey with her name and No.19 on it. She wore the T shirt with a photo of Coco the pup on it, a gift from the Tim and Sid TV show.
Andrew Miller · October 14, 2019 at 1:48 pm
Yeah Richard Williams, total character! Unique too. Very good athlete and pretty good instincts on court. But couldn’t read a serve – he liked tennis, just didn’t learn the sport or play enough. His competitive drive was there and he liked winning, he didn’t win because he didn’t do the drills his daughters did 🙂
I guarantee if I played the Williams girls even at that age, not sure how many points I’d even get. But Mr. Williams…that was easy. His game wasn’t matching up to his bragging!!!
Nonetheless easy to talk with him and he was a good sport. He didn’t call good balls out or anything and he too was gracious if anyone hit a good shot.
His daughters though were wonderful one on one and so too the daughters from his other marriage. He instilled ambition in every one of them. The Williams family is big, not just Serena and Venus of course.
Mr. Williams is a controversial guy and the family as we know had some issues. Regardless one on one no worries whatsoever and he was a total gentleman publicly. But a total character! Can’t repeat some stuff he said because that’s Richard Williams, he had opinions in ever direction and stories from here to the moon. That’s why I wrap all of it in a bow and say, total total character.
Met one of their sort of coaches too, good player hired to hit balls. Williams definitely found good players to help them hone their technique.
For what it’s worth they also were generous with their time with kids in the area. The courts we played on were in the middle of nowhere, anonymous. Public parks. They didn’t have to go there, they went there because Richard thought it was important. I went there because my mom thought it was important and it was fun to see tennis played where least expected.
But yeah those are the best players those courts will see in history. Their finest hour when the Williams graced them.
Andrew Miller · October 14, 2019 at 1:55 pm
Scoop exactly, they were FUN! The Williams girls at that age and I am sure now, just people and they were young teenagers that happened to have extraordinary games.
But hey I never played them and I know once the whistle blows forget about it! I’d have to adjust my expectations on how many points I’d get. I think at 15 I got a few points off the #1 girl in the country. I’m not sure I would have with the Williams. They were pretty amazing even without more than a few pro matches under their belt.
It was the same with the challenger players. They had another level of match play that couldn’t be detected from hitting with them. For all I know they figured out everything about my game in under ten minutes and had a strategy ready to go when playing tiebreaks with them or mock games. They beat me black and blue.
Andrew Miller · October 14, 2019 at 2:00 pm
Hey I don’t get to Linz or Austria every day so…the WTA feed surprised me so too playing the Chicago Bulls intro theme song from the Michael Jordan era. I loved it back then and still do so good job Linz for bringing back an oldie but goodie.
Scoop Malinowski · October 14, 2019 at 2:05 pm
Need to see video of Serena at 15-17 to see if her returns, serves, strokes are superior or inferior to Gauff’s now. How exactly Jon do you make your measurements?
Scoop Malinowski · October 14, 2019 at 2:14 pm
Richard Williams has a heart of gold and he’s a great guy in all my encounters with him. First did a Biofile with him about ten years ago at US Open and he said to me after, “That was the best interview I ever did.” He loved doing the Biofile, as of course do I. Then we took a picture together and he said something to make me feel like the special one. Uplifting inspiring guy. Very special guy. Seen him several times since and talked about other tennis things for my books, always a first class friendly accessible approachable guy. He deserves to be in the Hall of Fame, first ballot. Been saying that for years. He created two miracle tennis players, not one but two, USTA can’t produce one for decades, he does it twice. Hall of Fame ASAP.
Andrew Miller · October 14, 2019 at 2:17 pm
Ugh…give CocoG credit. It doesn’t matter if she was better or not. I think CocoG is a different player and it’s unfair to suggest otherwise, nothing in her style reminds me of the Williams, who were ridiculously and ludicrously good and better players than the grooved J-Cap. That much I can say.
Coco is good. She reminds me a little of Chang with her grinding style, she plays a little bit like a scrappy player rather than what kind of used to seeing from young player, which is the Ostapenko approach of hit harder. Nice serve. Good poise under pressure. All of that’s good.
She beat players she wasn’t supposed to and that’s also very good.
Andrew Miller · October 14, 2019 at 2:21 pm
Richard Williams…total character! You heard it here first. Hope the movie about him does justice and isn’t too melodramatic. I’m sure they’ll get it completely wrong. Wertheim in his reporting was fair, that’s the Richard Williams I met. But…when you get the chance to play him you have to ace him. He talks so much smack!!! So much trash talking!!! But amusing funny. Generally totally decent one on one.
Andrew Miller · October 14, 2019 at 2:25 pm
CocoG reminds me of a few players, whose style of play is more current. There are a few shots these days I’m not used to seeing, kind of like a topspin that falls a little short and bounces from just past the service box. I don’t know what that shot is, it has more loft than I’m used to seeing and it’s not quite the menacing topspin shots off the Nadal racquet, but it’s not the classic topspin either.
A few players hit it. Andreescu? Serena has a nice shot that falls short and forces a player to move up to hit it, which then opens up the court for Serena.
Scoop Malinowski · October 14, 2019 at 2:59 pm
Coco reminds me of no one, she is the one and only, original Coco Gauff. I hope she stays true to her origins and does not become a corporate product and shill spouting politically correct agendas which her handlers puppeteer her to.
Andrew Miller · October 14, 2019 at 3:13 pm
Given the game’s old every player reminds me of other players. Just me. Konta can look like Capriati sometimes; Bartoli almost certainly studied Seles and converted it to a right handed player.
Toni Nadal borrowed from other player games of frame of mind for Nadal, whose game isn’t conventional at all but Chang used to go for every ball and Hewitt too.
If Coco served right handed and left handed I’d call her a Jensen twin. Just me.
Scoop Malinowski · October 14, 2019 at 4:58 pm
Every player has a different body, different athleticism, so it results in different games. No two games are alike. Not even Federer and Dimitrov, the most widely compared mirror styles. Though Fedmitrov may be the most close mirror image games of tennis history. Game yes, results no.
Jon King · October 14, 2019 at 5:14 pm
Scoop, at this point I can’t tell if you are just kidding around and having fun. Gauff is just a player, reminds me of 50-60-70 other players. Decent speed, okay power, nothing special as far as weapons.
The age thing is meaningless simply because of the conditions that produced her. She started getting world class coaching at 8 years old, she was the same size she is now by 12.5. My hunch is she will look and play the same at age 28 like she did at 13, which is how she plays today. her game is the very same, as is her body, than it was 2.5 years ago. Thats why she dominated juniors.
Osaka and Bianca are the young stars today. Weapons and Slam wins. Clervie and others will be along soon enough to get some spotlight. Gauff is just a nice player who got some decent draws, some tired players, some players nervous to play a kid, and made the most of it. But there is absolutely nothing about her game that says “oh my gosh”…like most said when they saw Serena, Venus, Seles, Graf, Hingis, Capriati, Henin’s one hander, and on and on.
Gauff will have a nice career but will not be the shiny object a few years from now. In this case, unlike Serena or Lebron, the hypers are writing checks that her ability has no chance of cashing.
Scoop Malinowski · October 14, 2019 at 5:29 pm
Jon I just don’t understand how you can be so certain about putting a limit on what Gauff will accomplish. For my senses and educated eye, the sky is the limit for Gauff. We will see. You may be right and she does hit a wall in her progression, maybe even like Marta Kostyuk, boy, what happened to her?
Andrew Miller · October 14, 2019 at 6:16 pm
No predictions from me, I didn’t see a lot of slam winners in the rearview mirror and I certainly didn’t see Medvedev coming, he was a jerk when I saw him but an incredibly consistent player, as consistent as I’ve seen for sure. He had a little bit of a mean streak from what I could tell from nose bleed city in the stands, but his game was clean and consistent and for a waif of a player he moved exceptionally well.
That was it. Not much to go on.
Also caught Djokovic before he won a slam and I thought that guy WILL win a slam. He was maybe 18? 2007, twelve plus years ago. Djokovic was already very very very good and he smoked Feliciano Lopez (has a 9-1 H2H against him so, bad matchup for anyone and especially bad for FLopez).
When Delpo played Nadal early in Delpo career, also 2007 I think, Nadal obliterated him and I wasn’t sure if Delpo would win a slam. Underestimated the guy, he cut down on the errors and upped his aggressive play and found his way to an epic title.
Anyways how I see the sport I don’t say everyone is a carbon copy etc. Just that tennis over time is like a dialogue. Players borror from others without knowing that they did so. That’s just the way the sport is. Any sport, really. LeBron James isn’t Magic Johnson but some of his moves are relatives. Just is.
Andrew Miller · October 14, 2019 at 6:21 pm
Andreescu had an IT factor this year. She just played so incredibly well, some shades of other greats when they find their form for a period. Same for Osaka at last year’s U.S. open, she seemed to have that aura of inevitability.
I think Serena and Venus had it, Serena looked like a slam champ even as she worked her way through the US Open in 1999. She looked like she had a good chance to upset in the final. It was a stirring run.
Henin I wasnt sure of but boy she had a one hander. It was a hall of fame shot. I thought she was more like Novotna and would choke but to her credit rode that backhand and an improved forehand to a load of great titles.
It’s never a sure thing. But give it a chance. We’ll see how they all do and thankfully we are fans of the sport. I’d try to get of the prediction game though, it’s hard to figure any of this stuff out.
Scoop Malinowski · October 14, 2019 at 6:36 pm
Henin and Nadal have the shark eye on the court. The only two players who I saw with the shark eye, the cold dead ruthless eye, they are killers on the court.
Andrew Miller · October 15, 2019 at 12:04 am
Steve Tignor at Tennis.com had a good write up on Coco Gauff and her first title at the young age of fifteen. I think he called it right down the center, not too high, not too low. Tignor is almost never wrong when he writes because he doesn’t take many risks here – he doesn’t try to predict anything or suggest anything, only be faithful to the action on the court and make some modest assessments for the here and now. He’s more of a chronicler of the sport and he does it extremely well.
Talking tennis writing, Tignor said that his best writing on tennis has come when he’s just read some excellent books on any subject, with good writing that he’s read then inspiring better writing on tennis. I like that.
Hartt · October 15, 2019 at 7:43 am
I agree that was an interesting piece by Tignor, especially his analysis of Coco’s strengths and weaknesses. Good point by Tignor about reading good writing being inspiring for his own writing.
Jon King · October 15, 2019 at 9:33 am
Technical analysis is hard unless you are on court coaching a lot. The issue with Gauff’s forehand is not the “exceedingly open stance” like Tignor said. She is situational like all pro players, she hits more open when rushed or when she is pulled wide, less so when she has time to set up.
The issue with Gauff’s forehand is her grip which she has had since 8 years old. One of the biggest issues with kids is they will slip the grip to a more western grip unless you correct them a thousand times.
Gauff’s forehand lets her down at times, and is not effective against slow, hard, deep pace, because her grip is too extreme. She also generates far less power on the forehand than she should for a girl with her size and strength due to that grip.
Jon King · October 15, 2019 at 9:55 am
Typo is above comment, should read low, not slow.
Andrew Miller · October 15, 2019 at 10:04 am
Change is hard for players. We’ve talked about it, a player sticks with the game that they had great success with and then if they are motivated enough, usually from consistent losses that used to be wins, they adjust. A player has to lose a bit to get the memo!
Scoop Malinowski · October 15, 2019 at 10:11 am
Gauff grip is working, it’s not being exploited by the best players in the world.
catherine · October 15, 2019 at 10:32 am
Yastremska pulls herself together in Moscow and despatches Kasatkina SS. Poor Daria sometimes seems to act like a punchbag for players lifting themselves out of slumps.
Talking of pulling plugs on the season – Konta, Muguruza, I think Julia G are not playing again, like Kerber. Sometimes it’s an announcement, sometimes they just stop. Can’t blame them really.