Coco Gauff names ‘best doubles players’ on tour as American named new No.1
Coco Gauff has named Taylor Townsend and Katerina Siniakova as the “best doubles players” on tour after the American took the No.1 ranking.
Townsend’s victory at the Washington Open with partner Zhang Shuai sent her to the top of the rankings, becoming the 13th American to hold that ranking.
Gauff, who reached No.1 in August 2022, was full of praise for her compatriot and said that she was clearly among the best in the world.
“It’s super cool. I have known Taylor for a long, long time and I always root to her,” Gauff said.
“I was really happy. I have always considered her one of the best doubles players, right there with Siniakova as the best on tour, so it is great to see that ranking match where I think a lot of players see her as.
“She deserves it all. I played with her and I don’t think I helped that much because I think we lost in the quarters and I didn’t play that well with her.
“But I think she is hopefully going to stay there for a long time, and her and Katarina are a great team together. I am really proud of her.”
Next on Townsend’s radar is the US Open with the Chicago native having yet to win her home grand slam. Her best effort came in 2022 when she reached the final only to lose to Siniakova.
As for Gauff, she is one of five Americans in the WTA top 15 and pointed towards the Williams sisters as motivation behind that.
“I guess if we go long effect, for sure the Williams sisters for making tennis more of a popular sport for people to play in the US.
“Obviously, we have great icons like Chrissy Evert and Lindsay Davenport, but I didn’t grow up watching them and I don’t know if a lot of the players right now in the top 10 grew up watching them just because of the age difference, nothing against them.
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“Also, I think tennis is a very popular sport among women, so a lot of our best athletes will probably choose to play tennis or track or something like that, whereas the men in the US for sure is basketball and football. So a lot of the better athletes will choose that sport.
“So, I think it’s that and also just us seeing each other do well. You see one person do well and you have probably beaten them in a practice set a long time ago, and you’re like ‘if they have made a Grand Slam final then I can too.’ We have that camaraderie among us.
“Also, behind the scenes we are all friendly with each other. We all root for each other and practice with each other a lot. I think we help elevate each other. So, it’s great to see American tennis doing well on both sides but especially on the women’s side.”
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