By Chris Oddo | @TheFanChild | Saturday September 16, 2023
20 years ago, when Andy Roddick claimed his first major title at the US Open, many believed that the American would win double digit Slams. The Big Three flipped that script on the Nebraska native, but the former World No.1 believes that Coco Gauff, the 2023 US Open women’s singles, will have better luck.
Roddick, who was also in the early days of working with Brad Gilbert when he won his first major, says that things will likely be different for the teen phenom.
“The difference is that she’s not going to stop at one,” Roddick said in a blog for Betway. “There are dominant forces in women’s tennis, but I don’t think three players are going to win 66 of the next however many Slams, so there’s a much better runway for her.”
Gauff, who defeated Aryna Sabalenka in three sets on Saturday in Arthur Ashe Stadium, is carrying the torch for American women’s tennis just one year after Serena Williams retired at the US Open. It’s a fitting hand-off, says Roddick.
“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,” he said.
Making the Florida native’s title run all the more impressive was her ability to win without her best tennis. Gauff’s game is still blossoming in many ways, but mentally she was as good as she can be as she navigated four three-setters to earn her maiden major triumph and become the youngest American to win a major since Serena Williams in 1999.
“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,” Roddick said, adding:
“She tried to go more toe-to-toe with Aryna Sabalenka in the first set and realized that wasn’t going to work, so she needed to make her hit as many shots as possible and rely on her legs. She went with the mentality of saying, ‘I’m going to be a volume shooter, you’re going to have to beat me four or five times in a rally and I’m going to bring 25,000 of my closest friends into this match, too.’”