{"id":329882,"date":"2023-09-10T00:44:57","date_gmt":"2023-09-10T00:44:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=329882"},"modified":"2023-09-10T02:00:47","modified_gmt":"2023-09-10T02:00:47","slug":"burning-so-bright-champs-message-to-non-believers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=329882","title":{"rendered":"'Burning so bright': Champ's message to non-believers"},"content":{"rendered":"

Coco Gauff<\/a> has used her US Open<\/a> victory speech to send a message to her doubters, that she had arrived on tennis' biggest stage proper.<\/p>\n

The 19-year-old became the first American teen since Serena Williams<\/a> in 1999 to win the tournament in a come-from-behind three-set thriller over Aryna Sabalenka<\/a>.<\/p>\n

"Thank you to the people who didn't believe in me," she said in her speech after her win.<\/p>\n

AS IT HAPPENED:<\/strong> US Open women's singles final, Gauff v Sabalenka<\/strong><\/a>\ufeff<\/strong><\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> 'Destiny fulfilled': Teen phenom claims home US Open<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

READ MORE: \ufeff<\/strong>Coco Gauff's subtle nod to late NBA icon<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

"Like a month ago, I won a 500 title and people said I would stop at that. Two weeks ago I won a 1000 title and people were saying that was the biggest it was going to get.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Coco<\/p>\n

"So three weeks later, I'm here with this trophy right now.<\/p>\n

"Tried my best to carry this with grace, and I've been doing my best. Honestly, to those who thought they were putting water in my fire: You were really adding gas to it and now it's really burning so bright right now."<\/p>\n

Gauff is on a 12-game winning streak dating back to the final of the Canadian Open, when she lost in three sets to doubles partner Jessica Pegula.<\/p>\n

https:\/\/twitter.com\/usopen\/status\/1700642287363981438<\/a>https:\/\/twitter.com\/BillClinton\/status\/1700637444448669807<\/a>https:\/\/twitter.com\/usopen\/status\/1700641529432277192<\/a>https:\/\/twitter.com\/BarackObama\/status\/1700639069368172566<\/a>https:\/\/twitter.com\/MichelleObama\/status\/1700637996335194528<\/a><\/p>\n

In her only other slam final to-date, but was smoked 6-1, 6-3 by Iga Swiatek at Roland-Garros last year.<\/p>\n

"That French Open loss was a heartbreak for me," she recalled.<\/p>\n

"But I realised, God puts you through tribulations and trials and this makes this moment even more sweeter than I can imagine."<\/p>\n

Sabalenka's performance was one of the most error-prone outings she'd had all year. The Belarusian made six double faults (although Gauff made five), including one to gift Gauff a crucial break in the second set.<\/p>\n

Watch US Open 2023 live and free on<\/strong><\/em> 9Now<\/strong><\/em><\/a>. Alternatively, you can stream every match live, ad-free and on demand on<\/strong><\/em> Stan Sport<\/strong><\/em><\/a>, with centre court in 4K UHD<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

\"Coco<\/p>\n

She served at just 51 per cent and made 46 unforced errors to Gauff's 19. Gauff hit only 13 winners to Sabalenka's 25.<\/p>\n

Another Sabalenka error gave Gauff three championship points, but the American sealed it herself with a backhand winner.<\/p>\n

She fell to the ground in ecstasy, before saying a prayer and shaking hands with Sabalenka and the chair umpire.<\/p>\n

\"Gauff<\/p>\n

She said her faith had been an important part of her campaign, but she doesn't pray for results.<\/p>\n

"I just ask that, you know, I get the strength to give it my all and whatever happens, happens," she said.<\/p>\n

The victory extended Gauff's lead in their head-to-head \u2013 she now leads 4-2 from their six meetings.<\/p>\n

She will now climb to No.3 in the world rankings, behind only Swiatek and Sabalenka.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Coco Gauff has used her US Open victory speech to send a message to her doubters, that she had arrived on tennis' biggest stage proper. […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":329884,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/329882"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=329882"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/329882\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":329888,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/329882\/revisions\/329888"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/329884"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=329882"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=329882"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=329882"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}