????? What an incredible feeling?? #RG18 #fight #TEAMUSA pic.twitter.com/cd2g8Gi9Eh
— Coco Gauff (@CocoGauff) June 9, 2018
Coco Gauff Wins All-American Roland Garros Girls’ Singles Final
(June 9, 2018) Fourteen-year-old Coco Gauff won an all-American Roland Garros girls’ singles final over 16-year-old Caty McNally 1-6, 6-3, 7-6(1) recovering from 6-1, 3-0 down.
Gauff, at 14 years, 2 months, 27 days old, is the fifth youngest French Open girls’ singles champion, following Martina Hingis (1993, 12 years, 8 months); Jennifer Capriati (1989; 13 years, 2 months); Hingis (1994, 13 years, 8 months) and Gabriela Sabatini (1984; 14 years, 21 days).
This was Gauff’s second major junior final, she lost in the final of the US Open last year.
“Obviously I’m very excited and happy, because this is my first time and this is, like, my first main draw Roland Garros,” said the winner to media. “So it’s really exciting to be playing here. You know, it was a tough fight, but at the end it was worth it.”
After losing the first set Gauf said: “I just kept telling myself to stay calm, and I can do this. Like, the night before my cousin texted me, and she said, No matter what happens, just say calm, and just remember that you can win. So I just kept thinking about that. I just kept grinding every point. At the end, it was worth it.”
“I remember being nervous at US Open (final) where I couldn’t really play. So I tried not to let
myself get there here, even though I was nervous. But, you know, I just told myself to keep fighting.”
Four of the last five junior majors have featured all-American girls’ singles finals, and Gauff is the fifth American girls’ champion in the last seven majors, a run of success that hasn’t been seen since 1980-81.
“I think it’s really great,” Gauff commenting on the recent success of US girls in junior majors, “because we are all cheering for each other. You know, we always want to keep the championship home. It’s really nice to see all of my friends doing good and doing well in tournaments.”
McNally, still won a title on Saturday -taking the girls’ doubles title, with Poland’s Iga Swiatek over Japan’s Yuki Naito and Naho Sato, 6-2, 7-5.
“This run of success for American women, as evidenced by the incredible performances of Sloane, Madison, Coco and Caty at Roland Garros, has been years in the making, starting first and foremost with Serena and Venus Williams pulling thousands of girls into the game,” said USTA Player Development General Manager Martin Blackman. “The combination of their influence and leadership, great private sector coaches in the U.S and a comprehensive system of support that was established by Jose Higueras, Ola Malmqvist, Kathy Rinaldi and our USTA National Coaches, has led us to this incredibly bright present and future.”
Gauff reached the US Open girls’ final last year at 13, making her the youngest girls’ singles finalist ever at the US Open.
Asked about turning pro right away, Gauff said, “I just want to really ease my way into the playing pros. Starting to play some 25s.”
