Tennis Today: Coco Gauff’s US Open participation in danger, and Simona Halep’s huge welcome home

Cori Gauff after beating Venus Williams at Wimbledon

Michael Graham
July 18, 2019

In Tennis Today, the US Open and WTA ponder how to circumvent the rules that could prevent 15-year-old Coco Gauff from playing at the last Grand Slam of the year, and Simona Halep gets a huge welcome home in Romania.

What’s on the site
The 2019 Wimbledon final was pretty special, yes? I guess we can all agree there. Some, though, have called it the best ever but Toni Nadal is not having any of that.

According to the uncle and former coach of Rafael Nadal, the Wimbledon final that Rafael Nadal won against Roger Federer in 2008 remains the greatest. Is he right?

Naomi Osaka is a cover girl again this month, this time for Allure Magazine, and that has come with a revealing interview in which she has spoken candidly about her tennis motivations and fears.

And have you ever heard of an 88-year-old ball-boy? Well you have now…

What’s in the news
As is pretty normal now after she brilliantly announced herself at Wimbledon, Coco Gauff is in the news today.

The New York Post run with a story that explains how the 15-year-old’s participation at the US Open is in danger, although that is admittedly unlikely.

According to WTA rules, Gauff cannot receive a wildcard for the US Open as she has already taken all three that she is allotted (Miami Open, French Open qualifiers, and Wimbledon qualifiers).

However, it appears that sense will prevail and Gauff will be able to play, with everyone just kind of deciding to quietly ignore all the rules.

“We would expect to see Coco in the main draw of the US Open,’’ USTA director of communications Chris Widmaier is quoted as saying in the article.

“She certainly won the hearts of tennis fans in our country with her Wimbledon performance. It’s not every day an athlete of her age becomes water-cooler talk.”

The WTA have responded with a statement that basically confirms they will stand by and allow it to happen, thankfully.

“The US Open, as a Grand Slam, reserves the right to not align with the Age Eligibility Rule and offer a player a Wild Card in excess of her limit per the Age Eligibility Rule.”

Gauff’s Wimbledon exploits have seen her climb to 141 in the world, meaning that she would be eligible for the qualifiers even without a wildcard, but not for the main draw.

Elsewhere, there is a pretty cool video knocking about showing Simona Halep’s post-Wimbledon welcome back in Romania.

What’s on social media
That welcome in Romania certainly seems to have touched Halep, going off her social media…

View this post on Instagram

Multumesc Romania ! ❤️

A post shared by Simona Halep (@simonahalep) on Jul 17, 2019 at 2:11pm PDT

Elina Svitolina strikes a pose…

View this post on Instagram

Under Ukrainian sun ☀️🌊🌻

A post shared by Elina Svitolina 🍿 (@elisvitolina) on Jul 17, 2019 at 6:51am PDT

Alexander Zverev gets his smoulder on…

View this post on Instagram

Is there a better way then spending your night on the @asmonaco track?

A post shared by Alexander Zverev (@alexzverev123) on Jul 17, 2019 at 11:20am PDT

Andy yet MORE of the FaceApp tennis players, which definitely isn’t getting boring know… honest…

View this post on Instagram

Who of our top seeded players aged the best? 😂😜👴🏻 #atpkitz #faceapp

A post shared by Generali Open Kitzbühel (@generaliopen) on Jul 17, 2019 at 3:59am PDT