Opinion Express View on Coco Gauff’s Grand Slam win: The prodigy
The first Grand Slam title is only the beginning of her heady rise. It bodes well for American resurgence in tennis
Sporting prodigies, in their early years, are often in a tough place due to the stark differences between their professional peak and emotional maturity. 
The age gap between the men’s and women’s champions at the US Open has not been wider in any recent Grand Slam, as between 36-year-old Novak Djokovic who won his 24th Grand Slam title, and 19-year-old Coco Gauff who won her first. When Djokovic was Gauff’s age, while brimming with talent, he would let physical vulnerabilities get the better of him. Contrast this with Gauff, who has shown how she has made her superior physicality her strength, while showing mental maturity beyond her years.
Sporting prodigies, in their early years, are often in a tough place due to the stark differences between their professional peak and emotional maturity. Dealing with teenage fame can often be more difficult than competing with the world’s best, a task made even harder for a player like Gauff, who was anointed the next American prodigy after she defeated Venus Williams at Wimbledon at the tender age of 15.
Gauff’s sustained physical and technical development since, as well as steady results, are an outlier. She reached the top 100 at 16, top 20 at 17, top 10 and a first Major final at 18, and a first Major title at 19 and is leading the American resurgence in tennis.
There are no certainties when it comes to promising tennis talents. Naomi Osaka and Emma Raducanu have walked that difficult path. But Gauff’s self-assuredness comes across in her ability to make fun of herself, and also give answers in depth when asked tough questions.
Even at her age, she has not shied away from standing up for the causes she believes in, be it speaking at a protest in the aftermath of the George Floyd assassinations as a 16-year-old, or cheekily thanking Billie Jean King when she received the cheque for 3 million dollars after winning the title on Saturday, the same amount as Djokovic would receive, 50 years after King led the movement to institute equal pay at the Majors.
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