Coco Gauff is a talented tennis player, but she’s not No. 1. Iga Swiatek is.
Gauff, ranked 23, is from the United States. Swiatek is from Poland. On Saturday, June 4, in the finals of this year’s French Open, Swiatek crushed, demolished and destroyed Gauff, 6-1, 6-3, for her second women’s singles title in three years. It was over in one hour and three minutes. TV commentator John McEnroe said Swiatek “overwhelmed” Gauff. That was about it, too.
Both young women cried when it was over. So did announcer Mary Carillo. It was that kind of an emotional match at Court Philippe-Chatrier in Paris. I thought both competitors reacted remarkably well, though.
Gauff was never in it. It was 4-0 before she won her first and only game of the first set. In the second set, Gauff started out well, breaking Swiatek’s serve in the second game to go up 2-0, but it was soon 5-2 Swiatek and then 5-3, before Swiatek wrapped it up. Swiatek immediately ran up into the stands to hug her father.
Swiatek, the Pole, spoke in perfect English, as she thanked her team, her dad, her sister at home, her opponent (“You’ll be here,” she told Gauff), the officials, the fans; she tried but couldn’t think of the name of her sponsor, she thanked her God, and then said, ”the people of Ukraine, stay strong.”
So, we didn’t have Serena or Venus Williams there after having become accustomed to having one of the Williams sisters in contention. I know, we’ve been spoiled. Of course, Swiatek had a little help when Ashleigh Barty of Australia, who had been No. 1, retired in the past year. That left the top spot for Swiatek. And on Saturday, she proved she deserved it.
Less than 24 hours later, the U.S. had another chance at No. 1 when the all-USA team of Gauff and Jessica Pegula faced an unranked French team for the Women’s Doubles championship. But the French rallied to win, 2-6, 6-3, 6-3. In men’s singles, Spaniard Rafael Nadal took his 14th French and 22nd overall grand slam title, defeating Norwegian Casper Ruud, 6-3, 6-3, 6-0. We are used to seeing Nadal there and we saw him win big-time.
Nadal took his victory fairly calmly, but he did hug it up with the ball kids. Otherwise, it was business as usual. 22? Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic have 20. I’d say that’s too close for comfort.
Nadal may think that way, too. “I don’t know what can happen in the future,” Nadal told the crowd. “I will keep fighting to try to keep going. For me it is incredible to play here with amazing support from you to me.”
We, meaning the United States, did have other chances at a French title, but those went awry, too. In mixed doubles, two non-U.S. citizens faced two other non-U.S. citizens. In men’s doubles, Austin Krajicek of Tampa and Martin Dodig competed, but lost to Marcelo Arevaco and Jean-Jo Rojer, 6-7, 7-6, 6-3.
There was another championship on the weekend: The Thursday-Sunday U.S. Open women’s golf championship at Pine Needles in North Carolina. By the second hole on Sunday, Minjee Lee was at 15 under par, five strokes better than Mina Harigae and seven over Lydia Ko. By the end of what was actually an exciting final day, the margin between Lee and Harigae had dropped from five to four when Lee bogeyed the 18th hole.
Lee is from Australia and earned $1.8 million, a new figure for the Open. Harigae is from the United States and earned a little more than $1 million. Not bad for four days of work, but Harigae did not win and is not No. 1. Of the top 10 (who all qualify for next year’s tournament at Pebble Beach, California), only three were from the U.S. Those are Harigae, Nelly Korda and Megan Khang.
Raise your child to play tennis or golf. There’s a lot of money in it.
