Coco Gauff tries new outlook on life as she fights back into form at US Open

One year since the unforgettable sight of her winning a first grand slam title after years of suffocating expectations, Coco Gauff returned to the US Open with a dominant first‑round win, easing past Varvara Gracheva of France 6-2, 6-0.

It was a much-needed victory for Gauff after a difficult period. Despite being one of the event favourites on her best surface at the Olympic Games, the 20-year-old endured a meek third‑round defeat on the clay of Roland Garros in Paris and then she compiled a 1-2 record between Toronto and Cincinnati.

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As is usually the case when her form has dipped, Gauff has struggled with her forehand and second serve. Things were not easy for the third seed on her return to Arthur Ashe Stadium and the scoreline in the opening set was deceptive. The American faced break points in each of her opening three service games, saving six in total, but she served well in the decisive points and remained rock solid when she most needed to be. After closing out the set, Gauff relaxed and rolled into the second round having won nine games in a row.

Gauff said: “Somebody commented on my Tiktok and they were like: ‘You won in life, literally and figuratively, and there’s no point in putting pressure on yourself on a victory lap.’ I’m just treating this tournament like that.

“If you defend something, that means you won something. If you did it, you can do it again. Whether I do it again this year or not, [at some point] I’m gonna do it again.”

Gauff will look to build on her first win when she faces Tatjana Maria of Germany in the second round. Maria, a 37-year-old former Wimbledon semi-finalist armed with a wicked backhand slice and all-court game, reached round two with a 6-2, 6-3 victory against Solana Sierra, an Argentinian qualifier.

Just a few weeks after becoming the first Chinese player to win an Olympic tennis singles gold medal, the seventh seed Zheng Qinwen navigated an extremely difficult first-round match. After trailing by a set against the formidable Amanda Anisimova, Zheng recovered to reach the second round with a 4-6, 6-4, 6-2 win.

“It’s the typical match I will lose, especially after huge success, because as I know myself, usually after huge success I will get a little bit too high, and until the reality slap me down again and I come back to the ground and trying to be humble and work hard,” Zheng said. “So this time when I get a success, I’m telling myself, I don’t want to let this happen. I’m going to continue working hard, keep the stable mindset.”

In the men’s draw, Dominic Thiem’s grand slam career came to an end on Ashe as he was defeated 6-4, 6-2, 6-2 by Ben Shelton, the American 13th seed, in their first-round match. Thiem announced this year that he would be retiring from professional tennis at the end of the season.

At the height of his powers, the Austrian had positioned himself as one of the top contenders to Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal. He won his only grand slam title at the US Open in 2020 in an empty stadium during strict Covid-19 protocols.

Just as Thiem was approaching what seemed to be his peak years, however, he suffered a serious wrist injury in 2021 that derailed his career and he has never been able to fully recover from it. Afterwards, the 30-year-old said he was happy with his imminent retirement.

“I was struggling enough, like, the last years, especially since I was not able to come back to my level, but once I took the decision this year in March, from this moment on I was happy about it,” Thiem said.

“Obviously I was also able to kind of prepare already this new chapter what is coming soon. Honestly, I always, I loved playing on tour, and I was very patient about it, but I also always really enjoyed to be home and to have, as much as it was possible, kind of a normal life. And that’s why I always, I really look forward to this one now, that the normal life is now coming.”

Despite a courageous recovery from two sets down on his US Open main draw debut, Britain’s Jan Choinski was edged out 6-2, 6-3, 5-7, 6-7 (5), 6-3 by Roberto Carballés Baena. Choinski had reached the main draw after winning three tough matches in the qualifying rounds. While he has competed at Wimbledon, this was the first time he had reached the main draw of a grand slam tournament on merit.