Unfinished masterpieces in the arts have a special allure, but they exist in many other realms including tennis, where Coco Gauff is an international star who remains a work in progress, uncompleted. That much was evident in her recent loss in the final of the Miami Open, where she was tasked with halting the WTA juggernaut Aryna Sabalenka.
Gauff almost stymied the top-ranked Belarussian’s drive to complete a sweep of the “Sunshine Double” 1000-grade events. But in the end, the youngest American to reach the final of the Miami Open since Serena Williams more than two decades ago, buckled under a barrage of Sabalenka groundstrokes and atomic serves, 6-2, 4-6, 6-3 in two hours and 10 minutes.
It’s tempting to think, “Ho hum. Sabalenka wins again. She’s unbeatable these days.” It would be justified: Going in, Sabalenka has suffered just one loss (that in a Grand Slam final) in 23 matches this year. But context is all.
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Gauff is ranked No. 4 and, at age 22, roughly five years younger than Sabalenka. She was the first opponent to take a set off Sabalenka in the tournament, and she did so despite her ongoing struggle to fix a wonky serve and sometimes disobedient forehand serve return. (Sabalenka broke it down on a few key moments when serving into the deuce court). There’s a bigger story lurking here, which is that at the 11th hour Gauff managed to slough off a mediocre start to the year (11-5 before Miami, no finals). And here’s the kicker: the tour is moving to clay, where Gauff is the defending champion who bamboozled Sabalenka in the title match of a major.
In her news conference after the Miami final, Sablenka said of Gauff: “Oh, my God. Her movement is something else. Going into matches against her, I know that there is always going to be an extra ball. It’s all about stay focused and be ready for an extra ball to come back. [Her] movement is something else, you know. I wish I could move even like 70% from what she has, [that] would be enough for me.”
