Coco Gauff won her first major title at the U.S open and a grand slam with a 2-6, 6-3, 6-2 victory over Aryna Sabalenka. Gauff joined Serena Williams (1999) and Tracy Austin (1979) as the third American youngster to win the US Open women’s final.

Gauff moved to Delray Beach, Florida, from Atlanta when she was seven years old. She started playing tennis at the age of six, and she worked with Gerard Loglo at the New Generation Tennis Academy starting from the age of eight. In the history of the U.S. Open junior girls competition, Gauff was the youngest finalist ever at age 13; in 2018, at age 14, she became one of the youngest champions of the French Open junior girls competition. At the age of 15, Gauff received a wild card slot to play in Wimbledon in London, which is considered to be one of the most prestigious tennis tournaments one can play in. She quickly rose to fame after beating Venus Williams, one of her childhood idols, at only 15 years old.  When the players met for a handshake after the mach, Coco wanted to show her appreciation. “I was just telling her thank you for everything she’s done for the sport,” Gauff said. “She’s been an inspiration for many people. I was just really telling her thank you.”

Tennis commentators have remarked on Gauff’s resilience under pressure and her stamina skills. However, she has experienced setbacks throughout her professional career. She was eliminated in the first round of Wimbledon in 2023 and the Australian Open in 2022 since overcoming Williams in the first round at Wimbledon in 2016. However, she continued to make progress in her career; she faced Iga Swiatek in the 2022 French Open finals with a shot at winning her maiden Grand Slam championship. Swiatek defeated her 6-1, 6-3. Since going pro in 2018, Gauff has won four competitions, including the Cincinnati Masters and the 2023 DC Open in Washington, D.C.

Fast forward to the 2023 U.S open, Gauff entered at the number 6 seed. On Sunday, September third, she defeated Caroline Wozniacki in three sets: 6-3, 3-6, 6-1. In the quarter finals, Gauff beat number 20 in the world, Jelena Ostapenko, in 2 sets; 6-1,6-2.  On Thursday, September 7th, Gauff competed in the semi-finals against Czecia’s Karolina Muchova 6-4, 7-5. Finally, with a stirring win that sent the stadium into eruption, Gauff won her first Grand Slam title against Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus. “It’s so amazing seeing someone local win a huge tournament like this,” said Kylie Klein, sophomore at Olympic Heights.

“I feel like it hit all at once because I didn’t want to tell myself it was match point on the match points, I didn’t want to start shaking. So when it happened and like, finally it was over, my previous matches (have) taken me like six, seven match points to win and that was on the first one so I was a little bit shocked and I couldn’t breathe either,” Gauff said when she knew she won. She said, “It still doesn’t feel real at all.” Coco serves as an inspiration to many, and this is likely just the beginning to her success.