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."
wow. what a week it has been! I won my biggest title to date two weeks ago and you know I had to double itttt😝 (tik tok joke) In all seriousness, I am so thankful for all the support cincy has given me this week. Thank you God for covering me. #WTA1000
