\n
\nNEW YORK:\u00a0Coco Gauff said tennis icons Serena and Venus Williams paved the way for her breakthrough US Open triumph on Saturday after the American teenager captured her first Grand Slam title.<\/p>\n
\nThe 19-year-old from Florida battled to a 2-6, 6-3, 6-2 defeat of Aryna Sabalenka at the Arthur Ashe Stadium \u2014 where as a child she had watched the Williams sisters dominate.<\/p>\n
\nThe win ensured Gauff will have her name etched into tennis history alongside other Black American women to lift the title such as the Williams sisters, Althea Gibson and Sloane Stephens.<\/p>\n
\n\u201cIt\u2019s crazy. I mean, they\u2019re the reason why I have this trophy today, to be honest,\u201d Gauff said of the Williams sisters.<\/p>\n
\n\u201cThey have allowed me to believe in this dream growing up. You know, there wasn\u2019t too many just Black tennis players dominating the sport. It was literally just them that I can remember when I was younger.<\/p>\n
\n\u201cObviously more came because of their legacy. So it made the dream more believable. But all the things that they had to go through, they made it easier for someone like me to do this.\u201d<\/p>\n
\nGauff referenced the Williams sisters\u2019 14-year boycott of the prestigious Indian Wells tournament \u2014 due to alleged racist heckling and Venus Williams\u2019 push for equal pay for women at major championships.<\/p>\n
\n\u201cYou look back at the history with Indian Wells, with Serena, all she had to go through, Venus fighting for equal pay,\u201d Gauff said.<\/p>\n
\n\u201cWords can\u2019t describe what (Serena and Venus Williams) meant to me. I hope another girl can see this and believe they can do it and hopefully their name can be on this trophy too.\u201d<\/p>\n
\nGauff\u2019s breakthrough victory will catapult her to a new level in the hierarchy of American sport.<\/p>\n
\nHollywood celebrities and sports stars such as NBA greats Kevin Durant and Jimmy Butler were on hand to witness Saturday\u2019s triumph.<\/p>\n
\nShe was soon bombarded with congratulatory messages from former US President Barack Obama and current President Joe Biden.<\/p>\n
\n\u201cCongratulations to US Open champion, @CocoGauff,\u201d Obama wrote on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter.<\/p>\n
\n\u201cWe couldn\u2019t be prouder of you on and off the court \u2014 and we know the best is yet to come.\u201d<\/p>\n
\nAs the dust settled on Saturday\u2019s victory, video footage of Gauff dancing in the crowd as a fan at the US Open rapidly went viral.<\/p>\n
\nAsked what message she would send to her younger self, she replied: \u201cI would tell her don\u2019t lose that dream.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\u201cThat little girl, like she had the dream, but I don\u2019t know if she fully believed it,\u201d Gauff said. As a kid, you have so many dreams. You know, as you get older sometimes it can fiddle away … I would tell her don\u2019t lose the dream. Keep having fun.\u201d<\/p>\n
\nGauff admitted that she had lost belief in herself at times in the years since she burst onto the scene as a 15-year-old prodigy making a deep run at Wimbledon in 2019.<\/p>\n
\nLast year, she was distraught after losing her first Grand Slam final at the French Open. This season she hit rock bottom after a first round exit at Wimbledon in July.<\/p>\n
\nThat defeat at the All England club prompted her to bring the veteran Brad Gilbert into her coaching team. Immediately her fortunes improved, with a win at the Washington Open in August followed by a breakthrough first WTA 1000 title at the Cincinnati Open.<\/p>\n
\n\u201cYou know, people, I don\u2019t know, I just felt like people were, like, \u2018Oh, she\u2019s hit her peak and she\u2019s done. It was all hype\u2019,\u201d Gauff said of the reaction to her Wimbledon loss.<\/p>\n
\n\u201cI see the comments. People don\u2019t think I see it but I see it,\u201d she told reporters. \u201cI know who\u2019s talking trash and I can\u2019t wait to look on Twitter right now.\u201d<\/p>\n
\nGauff added that she had used the pain of her crushing French Open final loss to Iga Swiatek last year \u2014 where she won only four games in a straight sets defeat \u2014 to spur her to Saturday\u2019s win.<\/p>\n
\n\u201cThe French Open moment, I don\u2019t know if they caught it on camera but I watched Iga lift up that trophy, and I watched her the whole time. I said, \u2018I\u2019m not going to take my eyes off her, because I want to feel what that felt like for her.\u2019<\/p>\n
\n\u201cThat felt like craziness today lifting this trophy. It hasn\u2019t sunken in and I think it probably will maybe in a week or so.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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Cristiano Ronaldo sends message of support to Morocco\u2019s earthquake victims - Gulf Times | News by the minute<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Gulf Times: Latest news across the GCC from UAE, Bahrain, Qatar, Oman, Yemen, Saudi Arabia\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.arabnews.com\/node\/2371001\/sport\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Cristiano Ronaldo sends message of support to Morocco\u2019s earthquake victims\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Gulf News| UAE's Largest News aggregator site\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.arabnews.com\/node\/2371001\/sport\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Gulf Times | News by the minute\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/100084981843786\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-09-10T05:09:27+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/3994291-41693381.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"660\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"371\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"gulftimes\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@Gulftimesuae\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Gulftimesuae\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"gulftimes\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Cristiano Ronaldo sends message of support to Morocco\u2019s earthquake victims - 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