After a few gory days for women’s tennis, soothing balm comes in the form of a near-perfect lineup for Saturday’s French Open final.
Coco Gauff plays her first Major Championship game at eighteen, even though she seems to have always been there. Her opponent is the world number one Iga Swiatek, with a run of 34 consecutive victories.
It could hardly have been better after the clamor that accompanied the lack of women’s matches in the new Roland Garros night session and the crass remarks of tournament director Amelie Mauresmo.
There will be no shortage of star quality when Gauff, this remarkably poised American teen with a blissful smile, tackles the Pole showing a rare WTA Tour dominance.
Both players lost only four and three games respectively. Before they did, Mauresmo tried to backtrack on her admission that she didn’t think women’s competitions had the same appeal as men.
Gauff’s relatively long and steady climb to the top of the game could hardly have been better timed, and her 6-3 6-1 win over Italian outsider Martina Trevisan never seemed in doubt.
Not one to struggle to see beyond the confines of a tennis court, she used her on-court speech to state that recent world events would put her attempts to win a Grand Slam into perspective. She ended up writing “Peace, End Gun Violence” on the TV camera as she left.
“From a young age, you know I use my platform to raise awareness about topics and today was one of those days,” she said.
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Gauff is even younger than Emma Raducanu was when she reached the US Open final last year, and is the most youthful finalist at a Major since Maria Sharapova won Wimbledon in 2004.
She’s a slow burner compared to the way Raducanu came out in such an explosive way, but like the British player, she made sure to finish high school. “It was a good graduation week,” she said, referring to the official receipt of her diploma for the tournament.