In less than three weeks’ time the eyes of the world will turn to Flushing Meadows, New York as the first round gets underway at the US Open. The American major will attract the greatest players in the world to compete to win the final Grand Slam tournament of the year inside the iconic Arthur Ashe Stadium.
One of the players hoping for a moment of glory in this historic arena is the United States’ teenage star Coco Gauff. The 19-year-old has been eagerly watched since her professional breakthrough in 2018. Viewed as the USA’s future star, fans are tracking her career with great interest and are hopeful that she can soon secure her first Grand Slam title.
Gauff has recently secured the fourth WTA title of her career after triumphing over Maria Sakkari in the final of the DC Open on hard court. It looks to be all systems go now for the youngster to have a crack at becoming the first native to win the US Open since Sloane Stephens in 2017.
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The US Open to her will be perceived as the absolute must of her career. It’s the one Grand Slam she will be desperate to win because winning a home slam in front of a raucous crowd would be an unbelievable experience. The US Open to her will be what Wimbledon was to Andy Murray or the Australian Open was for Ashleigh Barty.
Gauff has already had a good crack on the Grand Slam stage so far in her career. She made it to her first major final last year when she faced Iga Swiatek in the French Open final at Roland Garros and then followed it up with her career best performance in Flushing Meadows a few months later, as she made it to the quarter-finals, where she was beaten by Caroline Garcia.
Her latest performances on court have certainly silenced some doubters after she suffered a surprising first-round exit at Wimbledon earlier in the summer. She has bounced back in style to win the very next tournament she entered without dropping a set and now she is building momentum ahead of a return to Flushing Meadows.
Next up for the world number seven is the Canadian Open and her first test in this tournament is British number one Katie Boulter. Gauff will be full of confidence heading into this one and it will serve as another great warm-up for the big event at the end of the month.
She'll also be inspired looking ahead to the New York event as teenage success hasn’t been a stranger at the US Open in recent years. It was only two years ago that Britain’s Emma Raducanu emerged victorious by beating Leylah Fernandez as a qualifier, without dropping a single set during the entire tournament.
That victory hasn’t quite provided a springboard for Raducanu in her career, and despite having one Grand Slam title over Gauff, the latter is the more established player on the WTA Tour. Gauff has time on her side so there is plenty of time for her to claim her first major, but who says it can’t come this year?
Her talent has impressed the world over the past few years and she is showing that she has what it takes to bounce back from an unsettling defeat on a major stage. Yes, there are many players who will try and seize an opportunity in New York in the coming weeks, but Gauff will hold the home advantage. Now it's time to prove exactly why she is in the WTA top 10 rankings.
