Coco Gauff, at age 15 and in her first United States Open singles tournament, got it just right.
What makes Naomi Osaka special is her capacity to lock in and play ruthless tennis, and then, with the handshake complete, to zoom out and have the humanity to sense the bigger picture.
It is a rare and appealing combination. And it was on full display in Arthur Ashe Stadium on Saturday night as Osaka, the world No. 1, played one of her finest and most focused matches to overwhelm Gauff, the sport’s latest prodigy, 6-3, 6-0. Osaka, only 21 herself, then immediately put herself in her crestfallen young opponent’s sneakers, helping her turn a negative into a positive.
“For me, the definition of an athlete is someone who on the court treats you like your worst enemy but off the court can be your best friend,” Gauff said later. “I think that’s what she did tonight.”
As tennis epigrams go, Gauff’s definition of an athlete might deserve a spot alongside “pressure is a privilege,” or “if you can meet with Triumph and Disaster and treat those two impostors just the same.”
In Osaka’s case, she has had to manage the fallout from two high-profile and emotionally charged triumphs in Ashe Stadium in the last year.
She did not treat them the same. A year ago, she yanked down her visor to cover her eyes and her tears as the boos resonated at the awards ceremony after she had defeated Serena Williams to win the Open title in a final that had turned ugly, through no fault of her own, as Williams clashed with the match’s chair umpire, Carlos Ramos.
On Saturday night, Osaka fully faced and embraced the poignancy of a very different situation, persuading Gauff to share the postmatch interview on court after their third-round match so that the teenager could process her disappointment and speak directly to the thousands of fans who had shown her so much support.
Both players ended up in tears, with Osaka choking up as she turned toward Gauff’s parents in the stands.
“You guys raised an amazing player,” Osaka said, fighting to keep her composure. “I remember I used to see you guys train in the same place as us, and for me the fact that both of us made it, and we’re both still working as hard as we can, I think it’s incredible. I think you guys are amazing, and I think, Coco, you are amazing.”
After being deprived of her rightful moment of triumph at last year’s final, Osaka made the most of this one on multiple levels.
“Sports do not build character. They reveal it,” tweeted Stefanos Tsitsipas, the young Greek men’s star, linking to a video of Osaka’s and Gauff’s on-court interviews.
Empathy ruled, and not just after the match.
Osaka said she teared up before it began when she saw Gauff hugging her father, Corey, in the corridor that leads to the court.
Osaka said she was thinking: “Oh my God, don’t do this to me before the match.”
She was flashing back to the days when she and Gauff practiced at the same academy ProWorld Tennis — in Delray Beach, Fla., Gauff’s hometown. Osaka was also thinking about her connection with her own father, Leonard, who has also been a key factor in helping her develop her talent and succeed against great odds.
Gauff has indeed been on the fast track: from the quarterfinals of the U.S. Open junior tournament in 2018, to the fourth round of Wimbledon in 2019, and now the third round of the U.S. Open, a month later. Her great potential is obvious, although there is much work to do on her forehand and second serve, and there are many pitfalls to avoid with big money and distractions swirling.
Perhaps she should have more chats with Osaka, who has had to grow up in the spotlight, even if the spotlight found her at a later age.
Gauff seems more mature at 15 than Osaka did at 15, more comfortable amid the whirlwind, more capable of articulating complex emotions and certainly more capable of competing with her elders.
Osaka did not get her first WTA Tour victory until she was 16 and did not reach the fourth round of a Grand Slam tournament until she was 20. But Osaka, too, has come a long way in a relatively short time.
In 2016 at Ashe Stadium, Osaka blew a 5-1, third-set lead against Madison Keys in the third round, crying on court as she lost, 7-5, 4-6, 7-6 (3).
But though she has been an inconsistent No. 1 in 2019, Osaka continues to show a remarkable capacity to rise to the biggest occasions. She played superbly amid the tumult in last year’s upset of Williams, then fought through a series of taut matches to win the Australian Open in January, and then kept Gauff and the crowd in check on Saturday night.
“You think about last year’s final, and I can’t imagine there could ever be a greater test of someone’s ability to stay in the moment and not allow things to upend you,” said Pam Shriver, a former U.S. Open singles finalist who is now an ESPN analyst. “And the same ability came out last night against Coco.”
More danger lurks: Belinda Bencic, whom Osaka will face in the fourth round, has beaten her twice on hardcourts this season. But Osaka, who needs to successfully defend her title to have a chance to remain No. 1, is now a proven Open compartmentalizer.
“When she lost that 5-1 lead to Keys, I think that was a moment of reckoning for her,” Shriver said. “We all thought she might have this pattern of collapsing in big moments. But guess what? She’s flipped it and turned what could have been a scarring match on Ashe into a learning moment, and that is a great skill to have instead of having it haunt you.”
On Saturday night Osaka salvaged another awkward occasion in the same cacophonous place, not for herself but for a distraught 15-year-old.
“Whatever I do, I try to tell myself to just do it from the heart,” Osaka said.
Source : NYtimes
