Coco Gauff’s message to the haters after winning US Open title

Shahida Jacobs 10 Sep 2023 12:44 AM

Coco Gauff during US Open trophy presentation

Coco Gauff delivered an emphatic message to the non-believers after winning her maiden Grand Slam title, the US Open, saying they were “adding gas” to her fire.

Four years after making her initial breakthrough at Wimbledon in 2019, Gauff finally delivered on her early promise as she defeated soon-to-be world No 1 Aryna Sabalenka in three sets in the final on Arthur Ashe Stadium.

The American had been building towards the glorious moment all summer as – on the back of her first-round upset at Wimbledon – she regrouped and took her game up a few levels.

Gauff lifted the biggest trophy of her career at the Citi Open at the beginning of August as she won the WTA 500 event by defeating Maria Sakkaria in the final. The teenager followed that up with a run to the quarter-final of the Canadian Open where she lost in three sets against her doubles partner Jessica Pegula.

Barely two weeks after winning her maiden WTA 500 title, Gauff upgraded to a WTA 1000 trophy as she won the Cincinnati Open – defeating world No 1 Iga Swiatek in the semi-final and French Open runner-up Karolina Muchova in the final.

Despite starting the 2023 US Open as the hottest player as she had an 11-1 record on North American soil, not too many predicted that Gauff would be the last player standing at Flushing Meadows.

However, she came through a tricky draw as she beat fellow teenager Mirra Andreeva in the second round, former world No 1 Caroline Wozniacki in the fourth round, Jelena Ostapenko – who took out defending champion Swiatek – in the quarter-final, Muchova in the semi-final.

All that was standing between her and the US Open title was Sabalenka and early on it looked like the Belarusian would win her second Grand Slam following her success at the Australian Open at the start of the year.

But Gauff bounced back after a poor opening set to win 2-6, 6-3, 6-2 to become the 10th youngest player to win the US Open women’s title.

Coco is burning bright now pic.twitter.com/yWfHHbjNPE

— US Open Tennis (@usopen) September 9, 2023

During the on-court presentation ceremony, the American took a swipe at her critics, saying: “I want to say, honestly, thank you to the people who didn’t believe in me.

“A month ago, I won a 500 title and people said, I would stop at that. Two weeks ago, I won a 1000 title and people were saying that was the biggest it was going to get.

“So three weeks later, I’m here with this trophy right now. I’ve tried my best to carry this with grace and I’ve been doing my best. So to those who thought they were putting water on my fire, you were really adding gas to it. And now I’m really burning so bright right now.”

Gauff will rise to a career-high No 3 in the WTA Rankings on Monday after picking up 2,000 points for winning the US Open.