COCO GAUFF WINS THE US OPEN 🔥 The 19-year-old defeats No. 2 Aryna Sabalenka for first-career major title 🏆 (via @usopen)
“Everybody Is expecting her to win”: Sabalenka is the heavy favorite according to Wilander
WTASunday, 25 August 2024 at 06:30
Mats
Wilander analyzed the top contenders for the title in the US Open women’s draw
and named Aryna Sabalenka as the undisputed favorite. For the 7-time Grand Slam
champion, Iga Swiatek has looked ‘vulnerable’ lately, while Coco Gauff “has
stagnated slightly.”
Regarding
the Polish player, Wilander noted that Swiatek’s recent losses have made her
appear less invincible than before: “We actually really did think that she was
going to have a really good chance to win Wimbledon,” Wilander told Eurosport.
Wilander warns of vulnerability on all surfaces
Swiatek
achieved a record of 21 consecutive wins during the clay swing, but it all
ended at Wimbledon, where she fell in the third round to Yulia Putintseva. She
later returned to the clay courts of Roland Garros for Paris 2024, but ‘only’
managed to secure a bronze medal after being upset in the semifinals by Zheng
Qinwen.
In her
return to hard courts, she suffered a crushing defeat to Sabalenka in
Cincinnati, who for the first time defeated Swiatek in straight sets, narrowing
the head-to-head to 8-4 in favor of the Polish player. “Of course, she was
going to the Olympics on her favorite surface, in her favorite stadium, and she
didn’t win. And now she didn’t win in Cincinnati, which, again, is not her
favorite surface. It plays very fast,” Wilander commented.
“So I think
she’s showing that she’s vulnerable not only on hard courts and grass but even
on clay courts at the Olympics. There’s a moment of concern. I think she’s
still searching,” he added. “To me, she needs to start thinking about, ‘How do
I win tennis matches on clay and try to play like that on other surfaces,
realizing I am never going to win as much on hard court and grass as I have at
Roland Garros.’
“Just look
at her big idol, Rafael Nadal. He did exactly that. He won a lot of tournaments
trying to play clay-court tennis, most of the matches. And she needs to get
back to playing like she does at Roland-Garros. If it doesn’t work, it doesn’t
work, but that’s where she’s comfortable. The style of tennis is what she needs
to get back to playing.”
Swiatek won the title in 2022 US Open
Wilander tips Sabalenka as US Open favorite
With
Swiatek not at her best, Wilander considered world No. 2 Sabalenka as the main
candidate for the US Open title. The Belarusian reached the final in 2023 but
lost to Coco Gauff. “She’s becoming the big favorite in most tournaments, to be
honest, even when it’s on clay,” Wilander said. “I still put her at 50-50 with
Iga Swiatek, but I think that there are more players that can beat Sabalenka on
a clay court than there are that can beat Swiatek.”
“Now, when
you go the other way on hard courts, there are very, very few players that
Sabalenka can lose to. There are very, very few players on a hard court that
believe they can beat Sabalenka. There are a few players that believe that
Sabalenka can beat herself, but with every win she has in tournaments, with
every win she has against Swiatek, every win she has against the best players
in the world, the less that is true.
“Sabalenka
knows that she can win matches and tournaments when she’s not at her best,
which I think makes her play her best tennis more often. So a huge favorite,”
Wilander added.
“And the
interesting thing is, it’s a big change because in women’s tennis we haven’t
had a big favorite in quite a few years, especially on hard courts. Yes at
Roland Garros, but otherwise not. And Sabalenka has become the huge favorite to
win the US Open, and maybe that’s the first time for her as well, that
everybody is expecting her to win.”
Read also
Gauff has stagnated slightly, but US Open could revive her
A little
further behind is Coco Gauff, although still one of the main favorites. The
defending champion arrives with inconsistent results, having suffered early
losses in Toronto and Cincinnati, and has only secured one win so far in the
hard-court swing: “I think technically you would have to say that she has
stagnated slightly,” Wilander said. “Her serve didn’t improve as much as we
thought. Her forehand didn’t improve as much as we thought.
“But I
think her fighting spirit is there, and the US Open is going to fire her up.
And can you imagine the American fans, how they are going to support her,
mainly because she is not playing well. I think they’re going to be so much on
her side that it’s really going to help her.”
Coco Gauff lift her first Grand Slam title in 2023 US Open.
“I’m not
sure what’s wrong with Gauff, except I think what is most probably different is
that she’s so young. She’s already won the US Open. She’s the American hope.
Obviously, in many ways, she’s sort of become a little bit of the face of the
WTA tour.
“Yes, we
have Sabalenka, Swiatek, and of course [Elena] Rybakina. But Gauff is younger.
She plays a different style of tennis, and I think people really, really enjoy
that. And for her to answer the call of being a Grand Slam champion, doing it
at home, that gives her so much confidence when she gets to play in a Slam, and
she knows how to do that.
Read also
“So I’m not
worried. I think it’s another situation where, ‘Hey, listen, I proved the point
to myself and to a lot of critical people out there that I can win a major.’
Who cares in the end if you win in Cincinnati or Washington, which she did last
year? Who really cares because it’s all about the major," Mats Wilander concluded.
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