[ARETE] Sport and Society - Coco Gauff

[richard crepeau]

SPORT AND SOCIETY FOR ARETE

SEPTEMBER 10, 2023

It seems to me that the U.S. Open Tennis Tournament, played at the end of the summer each year, has consistently produced some of the greatest sports highlights of the year. I have been particularly conscious of this since I started writing these essays over thirty years ago. Almost every September, I have been inspired by something at the Open that prompted me to produce one of these essays. Looking at my records, I see that the second essay on Sport and Society that I ever wrote was in September of 1991. It had as its subject the contrast between the performances of Andre Agassi and Jimmy Conners at the Open.

This year the stage was different than in 1991 as much has changed in terms of the physical layout at Flushing Meadow. This year, record crowds turned out over the two weeks of competition. The quality of tennis and the intensity of competition has not changed. The tennis fans saw great tennis, rising stars, fierce competition by fierce competitors, and all the glitz and glamor that accompanies any grand event in New York.

There were many interesting story lines, perhaps none more significant than Novak Djokovic’s pursuit of his 24th Grand Slam victory that he collected on Sunday. He has won more Slams than anyone in men’s tennis and is tied for the record with Margaret Court of Australia.

Djokovic’s quest is certainly an attention getter, but, for me, the most interesting and compelling story of the 2023 U.S. Open has been the maturation of nineteen-year-old Coco Gauff and her win at the U.S. Open on Saturday.

Gauff turned pro at the age of 14, and since then, she has slowly and not always easily, moved up the ladder of women’s tennis. There were times when she looked immature and overmatched. But, there were also moments in the early years when her ability announced itself. Over the past two years, those moments have become more frequent as her consistency on the court grew. There were not many who doubted that someday she would arrive at the top of competitive tennis.

That day arrived on September 9th, or more accurately arrived over the course of the past two years as she reached the finals of the French Open in 2022 and won two high level tournaments, Washington and Cincinnati, during this summer.

It takes seven matches to win the Open Championship. In her first three matches, Gauff won relatively easily even though her first and third round wins went three sets. In the round of 16, she faced Caroline Wozniacki who was making her return to competitive tennis after retiring in 2020. She was a former grand slam winner and held the number one world ranking for a time. Gauff won the first set 6-3 and then lost the second set by the same score. In the second set, Gauff struggled with her consistency and particularly with her forehand, which is said to be the weakest part of her game. But, she persevered and roared back in the third set to win 6-1.

What was impressive in that match was how Gauff worked through her problems and never panicked. In a previous year, she might well have gotten down on herself and started pressing. Instead, she seemed to be able to play each point as if it were a discreet event and did not carry over any sense of negativity from the previous point. This was interesting to watch and revealed how much she had developed. She was now a player ready to compete at the highest level.

In the quarterfinals, she faced Jelena Ostapenko who had just defeated the number one seed. Gauff won the first set 6-0, a potentially dangerous development. Someone said that this was dangerous because you can never play any better, and your opponent cannot play any worse. For Gauff, the first two games of the second set seemed to affirm the danger. She dropped two games before refocusing and finishing the set at 6-2. Again, there was no panic.

In the semi-finals, Gauff’s opponent was Karolina Muchova the 10th seed in the tournament. This too was a straight set win at 6-4 and 7-5. However. this match turned into a major struggle as Muchova pounded away at Gauff’s forehand, and it paid dividends. Despite her problems Gauff did not panic, did not waiver, remained steady and finally pulled out the victory.

In the finals, Gauff faced Aryna Sabalenka, the second seed who on September 11 will become the world number one in women’s tennis. Sabalenka reached the finals by defeating Madison Keys after dropping the first set 6-0 and fighting off match points in the second and third sets. Sabalenka is a powerful hitter who can intimidate opponents with that power. She has one Grand Slam win on her resume.

There were many who doubted that Gauff could defeat Sabalenka for the U.S. Open championship. Those doubters grew in number during the first set, which went to Sabalenka 6-2. Domination may be too strong a word to describe Sabalenka’s first set win, but it was certainly convincing.

In the second set, things slowly began to turn. Gauff’s toughness and self-belief were clearly in evidence. As the temper of the match was changing, Sabalenka seemed to have no answers. Gauff opened a 4-1 lead, and Sabalenka closed to 5-3 before Gauff won the set. By then the momentum had clearly shifted to Gauff as she broke Sabalenka’s serve twice and had a comfortable 4-1 lead. A brief break in concentration by Gauff, perhaps aided by Sabalenka’s medical time out, was a small blip as Sabalenka broke Gauff’s serve. As the next game started Sabalenka went up 15-0.

Momentum might have been shifting, but Gauff immediately broke back by winning the next four points to make it 5-2. As it turned out, Sabalenka did not win another point as Gauff served a love game to finish with a flourish, winning the last eight points of the match. When it happened, it was barely noticed. I had to go back and see if the final game was love. It was. It was then that I saw that Gauff had won the last eight points of the match. It was a thundering finish quietly done, except for the crowd.

One of the more interesting aspects of this match was the basic steadiness in Gauff’s determination. The shift in the match came slowly in a kind of grinding fashion, and then came the rush as Sabalenka’s resistance fell away like the collapse of a wall in the face of a pounding storm. In some ways it felt inevitable, and in some ways, paradoxically, it produced a mild shock and surprise.

It was one more of those magical moments at the U.S. Open that have entertained us and left us with a sense of appreciation of tennis and a realization once again of just why we keep returning to sport.

On Sport and Society this is Dick Crepeau reminding you that you don’t have to be a good sport to be a bad loser.



Copyright 2023 by Richard C. Crepeau



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