NEW YORK (AFP) – One year after Serena Williams bade an emotional farewell to tennis in front of an adoring crowd at Flushing Meadows, Coco Gauff is dreaming of continuing the 23-time Grand Slam champion’s legacy when the US Open gets under way next week.
The 19-year-old from Florida, who grew up idolising the now-retired Williams, heads into the New York showpiece with realistic hopes of landing her first Grand Slam title after an impressive run of results in the WTA Tour’s North American hardcourt swing.
She won her second title of the season at the Washington Open in early August and then followed an encouraging run to the quarter-finals of the Canadian Open with a breakthrough victory in Cincinnati last weekend – her first WTA 1000 title.
That win in Cincinnati also included a semi-final victory against world number one and reigning US Open champion Iga Swiatek – the first time Gauff has beaten the Polish four-time Grand Slam singles champion in eight meetings.
If Gauff’s upward trajectory continues over the next fortnight, there is every chance she can become only the fifth Black woman to win the US Open in the Open era, following in the footsteps of Serena and Venus Williams, Sloane Stephens and Naomi Osaka.
With Serena Williams having departed the stage, Gauff is acutely aware that she is seen by many as the likeliest standard-bearer for the next generation of African-American women tennis players.
