2024 US Open: Defending champion Gauff’s rising career hits a bump
Gauff was popular among other athletes at the Paris Olympics as she wandered around the athletes village, she was often stopped by other Olympians hoping they could pose with her for a photo.
Coco Gauff at a training session
NEW YORK: Yes, Coco Gauff is a Grand Slam champion. Yes, she’s been ranked No. 1 in doubles and No. 2 in singles. Yes, she’s already a big star who transcends her sport and was a flag bearer alongside LeBron James at the Paris Olympics and has a signature shoe and is featured on Wheaties boxes.
And yet, back in New York for Monday’s start of the US Open, which she won a year ago for her first major trophy — the first American teen to do so since Serena Williams in 1999 Gauff still occasionally might sound like someone who deals with impostor syndrome.
Put simply: She does not quite understand what all the fuss is about.
“I just thought I was nobody,” Gauff said. “The whole flag bearer thing is still mind-blowing to me. Like, ‘Why am I up there?’”
Gauff was popular among other athletes at the Paris Olympics as she wandered around the athletes village, she was often stopped by other Olympians hoping they could pose with her for a photo.
When she was asked less than a month ago for her thoughts on the US Open and its importance to her still-nascent career, Gauff replied: “It hasn’t been on my mind.”
Gauff said she was instead focused on the 2024 Games and soaking up that experience fully.
“She’s really embraced her star power, kind of,” said Jessica Pegula, a top-10 singles player and Gauff’s frequent doubles partner, “but at the same time, she’s like a kid.”
The off-court aspects of Gauff’s Olympics debut were a huge success: meeting James; collecting pins; the college-style getting to know folks of various backgrounds; chatting at breakfast with athletes such as 100-meter dash gold medalist Noah Lyles.
“He’s probably the most confident (athlete) I ever met in my life,” Gauff said, “other than maybe Serena.”
The on-court results in France? Not as gratifying.
Gauff exited in the third round of singles after arguing with the chair umpire over a late call, then lost her second match in both women’s doubles and mixed doubles.
“I’ll try to take the positive out of it,” Gauff said, “and do better next time.”
With her title defense a term she says she doesn’t love about to begin, Gauff is going through a rough stretch of results.
She was eliminated in the fourth round at Wimbledon while visibly upset at her coach, Brad Gilbert. After the struggles at the Olympics, she moved to the hard courts to prepare for New York and that did not go well: Gauff lost her second match in Toronto and her first in Cincinnati.