Why Coco Gauff should be applauded, not criticized, following her 2022 US Open quarterfinal exit

Coco Gauff, one of the favorites for the 2022 US Open title, made a quarterfinal exit from the competition. She is one of many whose campaign in New York ended earlier than expected.

Anett Kontaveit, Maria Sakkari, and Paula Badosa (World No. 2 to 5) did not go beyond the second round. Former World No. 1 Simona Halep’s fight didn’t go past the opening round. Defending champion Emma Raducanu and last year’s runner-up Leylah Fernandez looked a pale shadow of their impressive selves from the 2021 edition. The aging but potent Serena Williams did better than the rest, reaching the third round and bowing out after giving her best.

Amongst the plethora of big names, it is the 18-year-old Gauff, whose defeat in the quarterfinals to Caroline Garcia has left fans upset, if not distraught and dismayed. It speaks not only of the expectations on her young shoulders but also the ability she possesses.

This is a teenager who, lest we forget, was in high school just a few months ago.

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No Major breakthrough for Coco Gauff

In 2019, Coco Gauff announced her arrival as a 15-year-old on the lush green lawns of Wimbledon. She fought her way past the qualifiers and entered the main draw, where she beat her much-accomplished compatriot Venus Williams in straight sets in the opening round.

In the three years since, fans are slowly transitioning from excitement to impatience when it comes to expectations from her at Grand Slams as they fervently look for the next big name to replace the legendary Venus and Serena Williams, who are on the last legs of their careers.

Months before this year’s US Open began, fans and pundits were writing optimistic scripts about Gauff winning her Grand Slam title in front of an adoring, passionate home crowd. Written in the stars, prophetic, and more — almost every possible cliche was dug up and put on standby for the right moment and they had good reason to.

The Atlanta native showed that she belongs to the upper echelons of the sport when she reached the French Open final earlier this year. If not for the (then) indomitable Iga Swiatek on the other side of the net, she’d have likely returned home with the Roland Garros title safely tucked away in her backpack.

Coco Gauff lost to Iga Swiatek in the 2022 French Open final.

What was forgotten in the hullabaloo was the fact that she made it all the way to the finals in Paris, a Major that has seen only two different American women win the title since the 1980s.

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Coco Gauff's whirlwind rise up the ranks

It might only be her fourth year on the WTA tour, but Coco Gauff has had a measured, but significant, improvement with each passing season. She made her debut in 2019, beating Venus Williams to register her first tour-level main draw win. Not long after, she won her first title in Linz, becoming the youngest champion since Nicole Vaidisova won the Tashkent Open in Uzbekistan in 2004. At the end of the year, Gauff was ranked No.68.

The American ended 2020 at No. 48 and won her second career title at the Emilia-Romagna Open in Parma last year, followed by her maiden Grand Slam quarterfinal at Roland Garros, finishing 2021 at as the World No. 22.

This year, Gauff reached the quarterfinals or further in seven events. She has a 34-16 win-loss record and currently sits at No. 6 in the race to the WTA Finals. Ranked No. 16 in the world before the clay swing, she reached back-to-back round of 16s at the WTA 1000 tournaments in Madrid and Rome before steamrolling her way to the Roland Garros final without dropping a set.

In the midst of everyone’s focus on her singles career, Coco Gauff has quietly set the doubles circuit on fire, taking the World No. 1 rank in the category less than a month ago, becoming the 46th player and the 11th American woman to do so. Aged 18 years and 154 days, she is the second-youngest player in history to earn the doubles No. 1 ranking after Martina Hingis (17 and 251 days), who reached the summit of the rankings in June 1998.

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US Open exit a minor bump in a career that’s on the fast lane to legendville

Amidst all the sad reports of Coco Gauff’s unexpected quarterfinal exit at the US Open, it must not be forgotten that she’s only in her fourth year on the WTA tour. When the curtains come down on the tournament this coming Sunday night, Gauff will enter the new week not only as a US Open quarterfinalist but one that’s ranked in the top 10 of the WTA rankings.

Its significance? She will become the youngest player to make her top-10 debut since 17-year-old Vaidisova in 2006. She will also become the youngest American to make her top-10 debut since Serena Williams (17 years and 191 days) on April 5, 1999.

It will bring more attention to her, the spotlight will intensify and expectations will increase manifold. But for the jovial teenager, it won't make a difference.

“People are going to expect things, you almost have to embrace it,” Coco Gauff said, speaking to the WTA website.

And embrace it, she will.

Also Checkout:- US Open 2022 Results