'Not Much Of a Competition': Coco Gauff Takes Funny Jab At U.S. Men's Players
NewsSaturday, 09 August 2025 at 22:55
Coco Gauff could not resist taking a cheeky dig at American ATP players and their inferior results compared to the women in recent years in a press conference at the 2025 Cincinnati Open.
Ben Shelton secured his first Masters 1000 title at the 2025 Canadian Open, defeating Karen Khachanov in a thrilling final. He also had to overcome the Toronto crowd interrupting play to celebrate Victoria Mboko's triumph in Montreal.
At the 2024 US Open, Taylor Fritz became the first American man to reach a Grand Slam final since Andy Roddick's defeat against Roger Federer in the 2009 Wimbledon final. Fritz lost to Jannik Sinner.
Although Shelton and Fritz's runs were impressive, the men's overall results pale in comparison to the achievements of American women, something Gauff reminded fans of when speaking at the 2025 Cincinnati Open.
In the period since Roddick's devastating five-set loss to Federer in the 2009 Wimbledon final, Serena Williams won 12 Grand Slam singles titles and reached six other finals before ending her legendary career at the 2022 US Open.
Gauff, whose story has been compared to her idols Serena and Venus Williams, has won the 2023 US Open and 2025 French Open, recovering from losing the first set against Aryna Sabalenka in both finals.
In addition, Madison Keys secured her maiden Grand Slam title at the 2025 Australian Open, and Jessica Pegula and Amanda Anisimova were runner-ups at the 2024 US Open and the 2025 Wimbledon Championships.
That means an American woman has been in the last four major singles finals. Gauff mentioned that to humorously tease her compatriots on the ATP Tour about their comparative lack of success.
"I feel like, for the men and women, it hasn't been much of a competition, no offence to them. Was it three or four straight slams with an American in the final? So, we're doing pretty good on our end, they need to catch up."
The friendly banter between all the American players has been visible for some time, with this being another example. Gauff is friends with Frances Tiafoe and Ben Shelton and played mixed doubles with Taylor Fritz at the 2024 Paris Olympics.
This year's French Open winner then became more sincere about how happy she was to see all American players doing well and how pleased she was about the broad representation of people from different backgrounds.
"I think it's great to see so much representation of our country in this sport. That's the beautiful thing about being an American. All of us look different. We have biracial, black, white [players], all types of representation for girls and guys to look up to in the Top 10, or close to the Top 10. That's something beautiful about our country, how diverse it is, and I hope that in this sport it continues to grow."
The US Open could not have come closer to a home winner in the 2024 men's and women's singles. How well American players are performing on the ATP and WTA Tours means the chances of it happening this year could be even better.
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