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The 2021 US Open received underway on Monday as tennis’ Grand Slam calendar 12 months inches towards its conclusion. This 12 months’s match in Queens will give followers a have a look at the game with out 4 of its largest icons. Serena Williams, Venus Williams, Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal every withdrew from the US Open with accidents. The final time there was a US Open with out the quartet was 1 / 4 century in the past.
Regardless of the loss in star energy, the US Open continues to be boasting loads of intriguing storylines (Novak Djokovic’s quest for a calendar Slam and profession Grand Slam titles chief, Naomi Osaka’s return and protection of her 2020 title) and younger gamers coming into the match with rising inventory, together with two of coach Patrick Mouratoglou’s personal gamers, Cori “Coco” Gauff and Stefanos Tsitsipas.
In an interview with CBS Sports activities, Mouratoglou shared the outlook for his gamers in addition to how he is serving to develop the game of tennis.
In 2019, Gauff entered the general public consciousness when she beat Venus Williams at Wimbledon at just 15-years-old. Now, Gauff’s breakthrough has her shifting past juniors championships to working her approach to changing into a prime participant. Mouratoglou has recognized Gauff since she first arrived to his Academy in France on the age of 10, and he knew again then, that she was a particular participant. With Gauff’s continuous rise, Mouratoglou would not suppose will probably be lengthy earlier than she wins her first Grand Slam title.
“It has been an excellent 12 months [for Coco],” Mouratoglou informed CBS Sports activities. “Coco was additional within the rankings, however now she’s prime 20 and seeded [21] on the Open. When all the things goes very quick, it is a good signal.
“She’s going additional and additional each match so you’re feeling she’s getting there. She has the sport, it is only a marathon to get a Grand Slam and for a younger participant, it isn’t straightforward to be constant throughout a marathon but when she’s in a position to be constant, she will get there, she will win one. I am very certain that she goes to win her first Grand Slam quickly.”
Since her rise to prominence, Gauff was been in a position to make enhancements to her sport, garnering extra management in rallies and dealing on her second serve, which had been bothersome for the teenager prior to now. Gauff noticed her finest end this season on the French Open (Gauff is most snug on clay having received her juniors title on the 2018 French Open) when she misplaced to eventual champion Barbora Krejčíková in a tight quarterfinals match. She was the youngest participant to succeed in a Grand Slam quarterfinal since Nicole Vaidišová on the 2006 French Open.
At this 12 months’s US Open, Gauff fought her manner by a decent three-set (5-7, 6-3, 6-4) win over Magda Linette within the first spherical however acquired a brutal second-round draw when she was matched up with 2017 US Open champion Sloane Stephens.
Expertise triumphed within the pair’s first-ever matchup and Stephens overpowered Gauff along with her blazing forehand. In 66 minutes, Stephens received the 6-4, 6-2 win. Regardless of the early exit in singles, Gauff continues to be competing within the girls’s doubles match along with her accomplice Caty McNally.
Together with Gauff, Mouratoglou is working with one other younger, thrilling participant in 23-year-old Stefanos Tsitsipas. Tsitsipas can be coming into the US Open with plenty of momentum after a really profitable Slam season. Included within the group of the broadly touted ‘Subsequent Gen’ gamers, Tsitsipas is without doubt one of the youngest gamers within the ATP’s prime 20 and reached a career-high rating of No. 3 on this planet this 12 months.
Mouratoglou, who coaches alongside Tsitsipas’ father, Apostolos Tsitsipas, stated that this 12 months, Tsitsipas continued to make progress and it exhibits due to his rise within the rankings.
“For Stefanos, he is shut [to a Grand Slam title] as a result of he is No. 3 on this planet,” Mouratoglou informed CBS Sports activities. “He performed semifinals within the final two tournaments [ATP Masters 1000 in Cincinnati and Canada] in two very shut matches.”
Regardless of Djokovic’s dominance within the males’s sport, Mouratoglou believes that this 12 months’s US Open males’s discipline is broad open:
“The strain begins to essentially be massive on [Djokovic] as a result of now he is enjoying for historical past, he is enjoying to have another Grand Slam than [Federer and Nadal] and he is ready to change into the best of all time in order that’s an enormous strain. I can really feel that the strain is getting larger and greater for him. And on the identical time, younger guys are getting nearer to him by way of degree. Stefanos played five sets against him in Roland Garros, [Alexander] Zverev beat him at the Tokyo Olympics. [Djokovic] had powerful matches additionally in opposition to [Daniil] Medvedev so these three guys which are speculated to be the long run prime of the sport are getting nearer and nearer to him.”
Tsitsipas, Medvedev and Zverev are three of one of the best gamers on the lads’s tour proper now who’ve but to win a Grand Slam championship. Medvedev, 25, ranked No. 2 on this planet is a two-time Grand Slam finalist (2021 Australian Open vs. Djokovic and 2019 US Open vs. Nadal) whereas Zverev, 24, is ranked No. 4 and was a finalist on the 2020 US Open (misplaced to Dominic Thiem). Tsitsipas, as Mouratoglou talked about, completed runner-up to Djokovic on the 2021 French Open.
Tsitsipas, particularly nevertheless, is the youngest participant to have defeated the entire Massive Three. Tsitsipas accomplished the achievement earlier than he was 21 years outdated; he defeated Nadal within the 2021 Australian Open quarterfinals in 5 units, defeated Federer on the 2019 Nitto ATP Finals in London and defeated Djokovic on the 2019 ATP Masters 1000 in Shanghai.
The 2021 US Open is scheduled to happen from August 30 to September 12. The ladies’s singles closing is scheduled for Saturday, Sept. 11, with the lads’s singles closing on Sunday, Sept. 12. Stay up to date with the latest info regarding the American Grand Slam here.
Final 12 months, Dominic Thiem defeated Alexander Zverev in five sets to win the men’s singles championship whereas Naomi Osaka defeated Victoria Azarenka in three sets to take home the women’s singles championship. Thiem will miss this 12 months’s US Open as he deals with a wrist injury, in the meantime Osaka is taken into account to be one of the favorites in the women’s field.
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