'Timing Of Gauff's US Open Win Couldn't Have Been Better' After Legends' Retirements Says Roddick

Saturday, 16 September 2023 at 03:30

bySebastian Dahlman

Andy Roddick shared his thoughts on the recently concluded US Open, explaining how Coco Gauff's US Open triumph was perfect.

Roddick was in New York during the US Open, and he followed the event's conclusion. A former champion of the US Open, he knows what it feels like to lift the home slam trophy surrounded by his friends and family and a packed Arthur Ashe Stadium cheering on.

It's certainly a great feeling, and Coco Gauff got the experience after coming back to win against Aryna Sabalenka. In his Betway column, Roddick explained how the timing of her win in New York was simply perfect.

I was one of the dummies who questioned whether there would be a vacuum in tennis post-Roger and Rafa and Serena, so the timing of Coco Gauff’s win couldn’t have been better, especially here in the US.

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Venus and Serena were Coco’s idols, so to announce herself on the Grand Slam stage in the first year of the US Open after Serena’s retirement – a tournament where we saw Serena carry the public interest for a couple of decades – is pretty poetic.

Roddick is right, the run was truly a special one, and it generated quite a buzz in the United States. We saw many celebrities in the stands because everybody wanted to see Gauff lift the trophy, and she delivered. Like many others, Roddick was mostly impressed with how Gauff handled the moment. It was very mature for the 19-year-old.

She didn’t play her best every single match, including the final, so the most impressive thing to me was the adjustment in strategy and turning her average days into three-set wins. She tried to go more toe-to-toe with Aryna Sabalenka in the first set and realised that wasn’t going to work, so she needed to make her hit as many shots as possible and rely on her legs.