Coco Gauff finds redemption in Paris a year after tough Olympics
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Ken Makin Cultural commentator
Coco Gauff’s journey to her second Grand Slam didn’t just begin with an initial setback in her match against Aryna Sabalenka, ranked the No. 1 women’s player in the world. It may have begun a year prior at the 2024 Paris Olympics.
When she shared flag-bearing duties with basketball icon LeBron James, it appeared that Ms. Gauff, not yet 21 years old, had ascended to a level of ambassadorship that belied her age. But a controversial umpire’s decision added Olympic defeat to a Wimbledon setback only weeks prior.
“There’s been multiple times this year where that happened to me, where I feel like I always have to be an advocate for myself on the court,” Ms. Gauff said to reporters in late July after her third-round loss in Paris.
Why We Wrote This
A story focused onAs much as Coco Gauff has been a shining example of tennis ambassadorship off the court, her performance this weekend at the French Open reinforced her on-court dominance. It also crowned a week of excellence in women’s sports, our columnist writes.
It was a vulnerable commentary from someone who has shared the court in the name of advocacy with players like Billie Jean King and Venus Williams, among others. But as much as Ms. Gauff has been a shining example off the court, her performance this weekend at Roland-Garros reinforced her on-court dominance. It also crowned a week of excellence in women’s sports.
Before Ms. Gauff’s thrilling win in three sets Saturday, the Women’s College World Series featured a winner-take-all game the night prior between the University of Texas and Texas Tech. The latter featured NiJaree Canady, the sport’s first million-dollar name, image, and likeness player – with the right to guard and monetize her personal brand. In the previous series, Ms. Canady and the Red Raiders knocked off four-time defending champion Oklahoma.
Ultimately, the series went to Texas, which had a couple of compelling stories with Teagan Kavan, who dedicated the title win to her late grandmother, and Mia Scott, who played in the Women’s College World Series with a torn ACL.
The softball series, played in the same town as Game 1 of the NBA Finals, was an allegory for the rise of women’s sports. They are in league with the big boys, and their stock just continues to rise. The Women’s College World Series was a reminder of the recent partnership between Major League Baseball and the Athletes Unlimited Softball League, which launched its inaugural season Saturday and got a huge boost from MLB.
The relationship between MLB and the AUSL is similar to the Women’s National Basketball Association’s origins and its collaborative efforts with the NBA. Nearly 30 years after its founding, the WNBA continues to see significant gains. Based on recent events, it may be in the midst of another dynastic run. The league, which began with the now-defunct Houston Comets winning four consecutive championships, appears to be on another collision course between last year’s champion, the New York Liberty, and last year’s runner-up, the Minnesota Lynx.
The Lynx were arguably put on the map due to the exceptional play of former University of Connecticut standout Maya Moore. A strong voice for social justice, Ms. Moore stepped away to help her husband, whose wrongful conviction was overturned, before she retired from the game. It’s a reminder of how analogous women’s sports and progress can be, whether it’s the issue of labor or gender rights.
There is a saying in the stands of the French Open that might apply to women’s sports: “Victory belongs to the most tenacious.” Ms. Gauff’s demeanor and determination belied a 4-1 deficit and 0-40 setback on her own serve. She would win the next 12 points, and although she lost the first set, her spirit inspired a classic comeback on clay.
By the time the literal dust settled, Ms. Gauff was a two-time major champion who is spoken about in the same air as Serena Williams, who was the last American woman to win at Roland-Garros in 2015. There is also healthy optimism about Ms. Gauff’s prospects later this summer at Wimbledon and the U.S. Open, where she’s won previously. But above all of that, she accentuated her sense of ambassadorship with winning – and resilience.
On her semifinal win over Loïs Boisson, a native of France who had the home crowd behind her: “When you were chanting her name, I was saying [my name] to myself,” Ms. Gauff said. And on using previous losses as fuel for her French Open win: “Forget your wins, remember your losses.”
On Sunday, she had a message of perseverance for her fans: “Needless to say, I learned having doubt enter your head is impossible to escape but not impossible to overcome,” Ms. Gauff wrote. “Yesterday was a result of that. I overcame ... and if I can, so can you.”
It’s the type of confidence and candor that has come to define women’s sports, and it suits their ambassadors well.
