There are many ways to end a tennis match with a flourish: You might do it with a line-clipping ace, a fearsome forehand, or even a tweener. On Tuesday in Rome, Coco Gauff, who ran track in high school, did it in her own, unique way: With an improvised version of the long jump. When her opponent Zheng Qinwen’s final shot careened over the baseline, Gauff had to make a flying leap to avoid touching the ball. After she came back to earth—smiling and seemingly unhurt—Gauff had one of her best wins of 2024, 7-6 (4), 6-1 to move into the semifinals at the Internazionali BNL d’Italia.
This was a first-time matchup of mirror-image young stars. Gauff is 20, Zheng 21. Gauff is ranked No. 3, Zheng No. 7. Gauff won her first major title at the US Open last year; Zheng made her first major final at the Australian Open this year. Both love their two-handed backhands, and both are expected to win more big titles, and help carry the WTA, and their respective nation’s tennis fortunes, for the next decade or more.
Read more: Coco Gauff confirms changing technique amid serving woes in Rome
But Gauff and Zheng came into this match with something else in common: They hadn’t played all that well for the last four months. Since the Australian Open, Gauff had reached just one semifinal, and had struggled with her old weaknesses, her forehand and her serve. Zheng had been even deeper in the doldrums, going just 5-6 since Melbourne. In Rome, each has talked about trying to find her way back to her best form, and each made progress toward that goal.
For Zheng, motivation has been a problem.
“After Australia, there was a couple stages for me when I lose the [hunger],” she said. “In practice, I was not so focused.”
