Coco Gauff will follow in Serena Williams' footsteps and lead women's tennis into a new era, writes MATTHEW LAMBWELL - after the 21-year-old triumphed at the French Open
A two-time Grand Slam champion, a candle in the darkness for America, a cultural icon - there is a lot on the shoulders of 21-year-old Coco Gauff.
But she can handle it. It is becoming ever more apparent there is nothing this extraordinary young woman cannot handle. The transition out of the Serena Williams era was never going to be easy, but Gauff is the woman who will lead women's tennis into the future.
She is highly unlikely to match Serena's achievements on the tennis court - she has 21 Slams to go after all - but as a global cultural icon she can have a similar impact. The way she ran to embrace American filmmaker Spike Lee after the match showed resonance in pop culture.
'Knowing how much Serena meant to me - obviously I'm not going to have the same impact as her but just impacting a quarter of the people, or less, that's still a lot of people,' said the world No2. 'My biggest goal would be to have someone play professional tennis because of me.'
Asked the difficult question of what it means to be an American athlete - especially a black, female, liberal American athlete - in these tempestuous times, she spoke with courage and nuance of what she feels her responsibilities are: 'To be a representation of people that look like me in America who don't feel as supported during this time period. Being a reflection of hope and light for those people.
'Seeing the flags in the crowd means a lot. Some people may feel some type of way about being patriotic, but I'm definitely patriotic. I'm proud to be American. I'm proud to represent the Americans that look like me and people who kind of support the things that I support.'
That seems like an awful lot of pressure to put on oneself but - as top athletes must be - Gauff is a master of compartmentalization.
'Before and after matches is when I feel that weight,' said Gauff. 'On court I'm just focussing on putting the ball back over the net.'
And that is precisely what she did against Sabalenka. In windy conditions she drove or sliced or looped the ball - anything just to keep it in play - and extracted 70 unforced errors from the world No1, coming through 6-7, 6-2, 6-4.
Her parents Corey and Candi embraced each other and jumped around in the box. Gauff has recently asked her father to take a step back from input into her tennis and her mother to take a step closer, travelling with her on the tour - was it difficult to convince them?
'They know if say something I really mean it,' said Gauff. 'I'm a pretty dynamite personality.' You can say that again.
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