They grow up fast these days, and none faster than Coco Gauff.
In early July, she was an insecure tennis teenager, perhaps entering the wilds of the sport, struggling to answer questions about how someone who once seemed so precocious and so destined for greatness could still be waiting for her big moment .
In September she is a finalist at the US Open, the star attraction of her home Grand Slam tournament and the new face of her sport in America.
Gauff, the 19-year-old prodigy from hot South Florida, defeated Karolina Muchova of the Czech Republic 6-4, 7-5 to reach her first US Open singles final on a warm and exhausting Thursday evening at Arthur Ashe Stadium. Gauff was tested like never before by Muchova’s all-court play and the strangest atmospheres, but in the end the evening went her way in front of a crowd that continually exploded for her.
“Some of these points were so loud that I don’t know if my ears will be okay,” she said in her on-court interview.
Gauff will face Aryna Sabalenka from Belarus in the final. Sabalenka, who will become world No. 1 next week, secured her place in a turbulent three-set slugfest against Madison Keys, 0-6, 7-6 (1), 7-6 (10-5), that lasted until almost 1 a.m. Keys served for the match at 5-4 in the second set and had a break of serve midway through the third set. But she failed to cross the finish line to set up an all-American final as Sabalenka’s error-filled power play proved just good enough.
“Great player,” said Sabalenka about Gauff. “I will fight for every point.”
Gauff controlled her play when a climate protest early in the second set led to a nearly 50-minute delay as New York police and security officers struggled to remove protesters, one of whom had his feet taped to the concrete one of the upper levels of the stadium.
At the time of the stoppage, Gauff had a 6-4, 1-0 lead and was playing as well as she needed to to take advantage of a seemingly tense Muchova, who was playing with a black compression sleeve covering her right arm at the bicep at her wrist and, as she said, duct tape under the sleeve.
During the delay, Gauff and Muchova left the field and tried to remain casual in the locker room and warm-up area. Muchova got a massage and jogged lightly in the hallway outside the locker room. Gauff, seemingly at ease, walked up to a U.S. Tennis Association employee and leaned in to look at images of the protesters circulating on social media. She later said that she woke up Thursday morning with the thought that a climate protest could break out, as happened at the 2022 French Open and Wimbledon this year.
Maybe that was a premonition. Perhaps it was the preparation of a player who has a well-deserved reputation for always doing her homework. She earned her diploma on time last spring despite spending her entire high school years on the professional tour. She and her family celebrated in Paris, then she won six matches at the French Open before losing in the final to world No. 1 Iga Swiatek – on a day she said the moment overwhelmed her.
Thursday’s delay deprived a sellout crowd of nearly 24,000 fans ready to celebrate a new American tennis queen a year after watching Serena Williams play her last match, signaling the end of an era for American tennis Tennis.
Over the last four years, Gauff has emerged as the most likely candidate to fill that void. She broke through at Wimbledon at 15 and made it to the French Open last year. Since then, however, her progress seemed to stall, particularly on the big stages, and she had yet to progress past the quarterfinals of the US Open, the tournament where she has been in the spotlight more than anywhere else.
“I’m having a lot more fun than I was three years ago,” she said.
Two months ago, this run and a championship that is now just a game away didn’t seem possible, but on Thursday night Gauff showed all the reasons why it suddenly is. She has long possessed so many of the tools needed to become one of the sport’s elite – a dangerous serve, a hard-hitting backhand and the speed and athleticism that combine to make for the best field coverage in the women’s game.
Over the last five weeks, she has learned to use these tools and stabilize the shaky forehand that has been her nemesis. Against Muchova she combined power forehands with loops, hammered serves and also hit some of them into the corners. She hit backhands and stormed into the net. She took control of the points and fought alongside Muchova until the Czech star squandered them. She scored her first match point with a feathered drop shot.
“She moves well, she really gets the extra point back,” Muchova said of Gauff. “So you have to be focused and score points. You really have to be there on the pitch and then see where she goes. You have to think about where to put the ball to get it to the net or try to play it earlier.”
Gauff was reeling midway through the first set, losing three games in a row after taking a 5-1 lead when Muchova started hitting and put Gauff on his heels. She lost her serve again as she tried to take the game to 5-3 in the second round.
It would take three more games; another break of Muchova’s serve; five more match points; a nearly endless, penultimate, lung-busting 40-shot rally filled with a string of shots that landed inches from the net; and moon balls floating 10 feet above.
Gauff had premonitions both before and in the middle of this marathon point. She said she knew such a point was coming and she knew she had both the legs and the lungs for it and that it was just a matter of patience. As the balls flew back and forth, she began to believe that this point would change the game and that if Muchova could win it, she wouldn’t survive another long test on the next match point.
“She would definitely go for it to win or fail,” she said. “That’s what happened.”
Gauff fended off a final sharp serve from Muchova and held on until a final backhand went too far.
New York had been hers since her first game of the tournament, and now this night and a spot in the finals were hers too.