Boris
Becker has placed his bets on
Coco Gauff to become a superstar and compete with
Iga Swiatek and Aryna Sabalenka.
The
19-year-old athlete has been on the WTA Tour for several years and clinched her
first title in 2019 at the WTA 250 Linz Open. She has been carrying high
expectations for her future for a while. Becker highlighted the challenges of
dealing with pressure at a young age.
"It's
always difficult when you're 15 years old and already being touted as the next
superstar of the tennis scene by us experts
"That
doesn't make life any easier for a 15-year-old. That means the pressure
increases, the expectations rise, and you also lose a bit of patience. Now I
finally have to win something big. No, it was the final in Paris, but the big
breakthrough didn't happen.
The
American star Gauff has showcased impressive tennis in the recent weeks during
the
US Open Series swing, boasting a record of 11-1 and securing two titles:
the WTA 500 DC Open and the WTA 1000 Cincinnati Open.
"But
this summer, now on the American hard courts, she won the tournament in
Washington and beat the world number one Swiatek for the first time in the
semi-finals in Cincinnati to win the final against [Karolina] Muchova.
"In
this respect, I call this a breakthrough, it can be compared to [Jannik]
Sinner, and now she is also in the tight circle of the absolute top favourites
for the US Open, and that is nice for the scene.
"She
is a great personality with a lot of charisma. She comes from America, which is
the promised land of tennis with the most big tournaments. The women's scene
needs a superstar, and I'll say Coco Gauff is one."
"As a
tennis fan, I think it's good that there are more players," he said.
According
to Becker, Gauff has a chance to contend for the championship at the US Open.
"Apart
from Sabalenka and Swiatek, and they have a realistic chance to win the
tournament. From the point of view of the two players, yes, you get a bit
hectic, you get a bit nervous. Winning makes you contagious, that is, you see
it as normality to always make it to the final, and your opponent is already
clear. That's not per se, and I think it started in Wimbledon, when we saw two
other players in the final.
“For the
tennis scene it's good, so Swiatek and Sabalenka I see in the final four,
definitely at this US Open. But we talked about Coco Gauff and maybe there's
someone else coming up that we all don't have on our radar.
"But
for the top players, defeats are like waking up, maybe training a little bit
harder again, and that everyday feeling is gone for a while."
