Coco Gauff cracked jokes Monday night following her tense win in the first round of the US Open at Arthur Ashe Stadium.

When asked how she would describe the match, Gauff responded with one word: “Slow.” Then she broke into a smile.

No. 6 seed Gauff and qualifier Laura Siegemund butted heads over the pace of play throughout the entirety of the nearly three-hour match. Tempers boiled over in the third set, when Gauff approached the umpire to express her frustrations over Siegemund dawdling both on and off the serve.

“She’s never ready when I’m serving,” Gauff protested. “She went over to talk like four times. You gave her a time violation once. How is this fair? … I’m going a normal speed. Ask any ref here. … I’ve been quiet the whole match. … Now it’s ridiculous. I don’t care what she’s doing on her serve, but [on] my serve, she has to be ready.”

While Gauff wound up dropping that game, Siegemund later was docked a point for delaying the game by going to her towel – a penalty that she then protested. Still, the penalty helped widen Gauff’s lead in the third set, and the 19-year-old would go on to win the third set and take the match, 3-6, 6-2, 6-4.

Afterward, Gauff explained her frustrations, noting that while Siegemund had been going over time “since the first set,” Gauff remained patient despite the umpire not taking action. Eventually, though, it reached to the point where the crowd started to chime in and yell “time” whenever Siegemund ran over.

While Gauff said she doesn’t “like confrontation all that much,” in the third set the situation became too much to ignore. If she could do the match over again, she “would’ve said something earlier,” but she doesn’t regret talking to the ref the way that she did.

“I wasn’t sure if I was in the right or not until it, like, happened multiple times,” Gauff said, referring to Siegemund’s delay tactics between points. “Then I was like, OK, I know I’m in the right. … For me, I try my best not to let my emotions take over myself. I wanted to express my frustration but also being censored. … I was trying to best communicate how I was feeling to the referee. … I’d still say everything I said in that moment again.”

Former world No. 1 Caroline Wozniacki is making her return to professional tennis three years after retiring, she announced Thursday.

In a first-person essay for Vogue, the 32-year-old said she began hitting again following the birth of her second child in October, and she realized how much she missed playing. Her father and longtime coach Piotr Wozniacki told her as she was practicing that she looked like she was “enjoying it more,” she said.

“That was exactly how I felt: I was relaxed and having fun, and somehow that let me see everything more clearly,” Wozniacki said.

She aims to return ahead of the US Open, where she’s been a finalist twice. She plans to play in the Canadian Open in Montreal in August “just to get back into the groove” and then to take the court in Flushing Meadows later that month.

“After that, I’ll have a couple of months to prepare for Australia, and we’ll take it from there,” she said. “The Paris Olympics are definitely a goal too.

“Am I nervous? Not really. I’m coming back to something I love. Yes, I’ll be nervous before a match; I’m okay with that. I’m great with that. Can I win the US Open? I think so. Can I win the Australian Open? I think so. That’s why I’m doing this. And I guess we’ll see what happens.”

The 2018 Australian Open winner retired after the 2020 edition of the same tournament. At the time of her retirement, Wozniacki said that she had achieved “almost everything I’d ever set out to do.”

Since then, Wozniacki has given birth to a daughter and a son. When she returns, she’ll join an elite and growing group of mothers competing on the WTA Tour, including Victoria Azarenka, Elina Svitolina and Taylor Townsend. Fellow former No. 1 players Angelique Kerber and Naomi Osaka both are expected to return from maternity leave next year.

Wozniacki told Serena Williams about her plans a few weeks ago, she said, and Williams expressed her support. Williams, who retired after the 2022 US Open, is currently pregnant with her second child.

“I think that Serena doesn’t get nearly enough credit for getting to so many Grand Slam finals after having Olympia,” Wozniacki said. “Her retirement will always be bittersweet, both for me and for so many other players, because she’s meant so much to women’s tennis. She paved the way for so many of us—she showed us that anything is possible.”

Admittedly, Wozniacki doesn’t know how long she’ll be able to play at her highest level. In 2018, Wozniacki announced her diagnosis with rheumatoid arthritis. While at the time she said it didn’t play into her retirement, she tells Vogue about the pain she experienced as a result of the disease.

The time off has been good, however, and she notes that everything is “so far, so good.”

“The long break seems to have done wonders in terms of recovery, and mentally, I’m fresh,” she said. “I’m not putting as much pressure on myself, but at the same time I know when I’m out there, I’m going to be fighting.”

The US Open will celebrate 50 years of equal prize money this summer. The theme art for this year’s tournament commemorates the accomplishment.

As the first Grand Slam to implement equal pay in the Open era, the US Open did so in 1973. The change was sparked by tennis great Billie Jean King, who continues to fight for equal pay across women’s sports. It took decades for the other Slams to follow suit, with the Australian Open implementing equal prize money in 2001 and the French Open and Wimbledon waiting until 2006 and 2007, respectively.

“The USTA is incredibly proud to celebrate the 50th anniversary of awarding equal prize money at this year’s US Open, and to honor Billie Jean King’s efforts to make this a reality,” USTA president Brian Hainline said in a statement.  “No individual has done more to secure equality for female athletes than Billie Jean King. Her impact goes far beyond the tennis court, and there is no better time to celebrate her legacy than on the anniversary of this historic milestone.”

“It was a lot of hard work,” King told USA Today. She says she remembers being “exhausted all the time” during what was a pivotal year for tennis and “women in general.”

“In 1972, I won and got $10,000, while the men’s champion, Ilie Nastase, won and got $25,000,” she continued. “This was ridiculous so I said, ‘I don’t think the women are going to be back next year, we’re not going to be back in 1973 unless we get equal prize money.’ I’m saying this but just hoping and trusting the other players would go along with it at that point.”

Yet King knew that they wouldn’t accomplish anything through complaints alone. Instead, she helped to come up with solutions.

“I knew I had to not just complain, but to come up with solutions,” she said. “So I talked to different sponsors and asked them if they’d make up the difference in total prize money. I was a business woman and this was a business decision, so I knew if I got some sponsors to pay more money, I was hoping that would make the difference, and it did.”

Iga Swiatek held off a surging Ons Jabeur Saturday, downing the No. 5 seed 6-2, 7-6 (5) to claim her first career US Open championship.

The 21-year-old kept her cool in critical moments, remaining steady despite Jabeur’s improving form in the second set. The match came down to a tight second-set tiebreak, with Swiatek showcasing her mental toughness as she charged to victory in front of a boisterous Flushing Meadows crowd.

“I needed to stay composed and focus on the goals,” Swiatek said during the on-court trophy ceremony. “It’s New York. it’s so loud, it’s so crazy. It’s really mind-blowing for me. I’m really proud I could handle it mentally.”

Swiatek was dominant through the opening set, making 90 percent of first serves while dictating play behind a solid return game. As Jabeur found her way into the match, Swiatek’s performance dipped, but she remained calm, sticking with every point and hanging tough before gritting out a straight-set win.

Jabeur told reporters Swiatek simply knew how to play “better at the right moment, at the important points,” adding, “She knows exactly what to do. I feel like she improved a lot from last year until the beginning of this year again.”

The Polish star’s Us Open trophy joins her French Open title, making Swiatek the first player to win two Grand Slams in a single season since Angelique Kerber in 2016.

Known for her play-making ability on clay, Swiatek’s victory on the hard courts of Flushing Meadows indicates a new variety to her game. Swiatek joins Serena Williams and Justine Henin as just the third woman in the last 15 years to claim multiple majors on different surfaces in the same season.

With her US Open victory, Swiatek is the ninth player of the Open Era to win her third major before turning 22.

The 21-year-old has had a landmark year, highlighted by a historic 37-match win streak, a prolonged stint as the World No. 1, and now, a major win in New York.

“It’s something that I wasn’t expecting for sure. It’s also like a confirmation for me that sky is the limit,” Swiatek told reporters. “I’m proud, also surprised a little bit, just happy that I was able to do that.”

On Monday, Swiatek and Jabeur will be ranked No. 1 and No. 2, respectively.

Iga Swiatek reached her second Grand Slam final of the year Thursday, as she rallied to take down No. 6 Aryna Sabalenka 3-6, 6-1, 6-4 in the US Open semifinals.

While the 21-year-old never had made a US Open quarterfinal before this season, she is now the first world No. 1 to reach the final at Flushing Meadows since Serena Williams in 2014. That drought was tied for the longest of any major in the Open era.

“I felt a huge difference between the first set and the last two,” Swiatek said after her semifinal win. “I’m pretty happy that I got my level of energy up a little bit.

“Aryna made it difficult today, for sure. I felt like she was serving pretty solid. It was hard to come back in the third, but I’m pretty happy that I did.”

The world No. 1 fired off the last four games, and 16 of the last 20 points, to beat Sabalenka. Before that, the Belarusian had led by 2-0 and 4-2 in the third set.

“I just went all in, you know. This time it actually gave me a lot, and the balls that I played went in,” Swiatek said. “I’m pretty happy because I feel like we were both kind of sometimes risking, because the pace was really, really high.”

Sabalenka gave kudos to the Polish star after the match.

“She was just going for it,” said Sabalenka, the sixth-ranked player in the world. “She was hitting every ball and putting me under pressure and playing really aggressively.”

The match was Sabalenka’s third loss in a Grand Slam semifinal. The 24-year-old also lost in the semifinals of Wimbledon and the US Open in 2021.

In Saturday’s final, Swiatek will face off against Ons Jabeur.

Jabeur, the No. 5 seed, became the first African woman to reach a final at the US Open in the professional era with her 6-1, 6-3 win over Caroline Garcia. The 28-year-old from Tunisia will be appearing in her second-straight major final, after she also reached the final at Wimbledon.

“Feels more real, to be honest with you, just to be in the final again. At Wimbledon, I was kind of just living the dream, and I couldn’t believe it,” Jabeur said. “Now just, I hope, I’m getting used to it…Now maybe I know what to do.

“After Wimbledon, [there was] a lot of pressure on me and I’m really relieved that I can back up my results.”

Jessica Pegula played in her third Grand Slam quarterfinal match of the year Wednesday, but the top-ranked American found herself on the losing side yet again.

After a straight-set loss to world No. 1 Iga Swiatek, 6-3, 7-6 (7-4), Pegula described the frustration of yet another major tournament run ending in the quarterfinals. The 28-year-old opened the year with two straight Grand Slam quarterfinal trips at the Australian and French Opens before losing in the third round at Wimbledon.

“I go back and forth,” she said. “I’m like, ‘Oh, I should be positive.’ But at the same time, I’m like, ‘F–k, three quarterfinals,’ sorry, but it just sucks. It sucks. I wish I could’ve done it here at my home slam but I guess not.

“I wish I didn’t have to play Iga [Swiatek] every quarterfinal or Ash Barty, which seem to be the people that don’t really lose often,” she continued.

Pegula and Swiatek faced off in the French Open quarterfinals, with world No. 1 Swiatek winning that match and eventually the tournament. Her loss in the Australian Open came against then-world No. 1 Ash Barty, who won her home tournament and then retired.

Pegula answered questions while sipping a Heineken, which she explained was meant to help with “trying to pee for doping.”

“Although it does help ease the loss,” she added.

Aryna Sabalenka advanced to the semifinals of the US Open for the second straight year after a straight-set win Wednesday over Karolina Pliskova, 6-1, 7-6 (7-4).

The Belarusian player said her exclusion from Wimbledon gave her extra motivation at the U.S. Grand Slam. Russian and Belarusian players were banned from competing at the grass-court major after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

“They took away one opportunity from me, and I work really hard for this one,” Sabalenka said. “It was a tough time, especially when I was working out in the gym and there was Wimbledon playing on the TV. I was always turning it off because I couldn’t watch it.

“I had a lot of good memories from there, and I miss it very much. That’s why I wasn’t able to watch it, because it reminded me about the great time I had there.”

While Russian and Belarusian players were allowed to compete at the US Open, the tournament is not announcing their nationalities during on-court introductions. ESPN has not been displaying their nations’ flags during its broadcasts.

Sabalenka has not commented publicly on the war in Ukraine.

“I’m just trying to think in that way, that I’m just an athlete and I have nothing to do with politics,” she said.

The 24-year-old will next play world No. 1 Iga Swiatek in the semifinals Thursday night. Swiatek advanced with a 6-3, 7-6 (7-4) win against Jessica Pegula.

“I’m just trying to play my best and make sure that people enjoy watching my matches. It’s going to be tough, and I know I have to really work hard for this win,” Sabalenka said. “Now I will just go there and fight for every point.

“[Swiatek] is a great player, always tough matches against her. She’s moving well, hitting the ball really well, serving well. She’s a tough opponent, but I’ll do my best there and I’ll make her work as much as I can.”

Serena Williams continued to break records in her final US Open match. Her expected farewell to Flushing Meadows and to tennis became the most-watched tennis broadcast ever on ESPN.

The 23-time Grand Slam champion announced her plans to retire from tennis following the final major of 2022. An average of 4.6 million viewers tuned in to watch her three-set loss to Ajla Tomljanovic in the third round Friday.

Previously, the record stood at 3.9 million viewers for the 2012 Wimbledon final, in which Roger Federer defeated Andy Murray. That also was ESPN’s first year with exclusive coverage of Wimbledon.

The ratings for Williams’ final match peaked with 6.9 million viewers at about 10:15 p.m. ET, around the time the match was coming to an end.

While record-breaking, the match was not the first big ratings get of the tournament for Williams. Her second-round win over Anett Kontaveit averaged 3.6 million viewers.

A total of 1.1 million viewers on average tuned in to ESPN through the first week of the tournament, a 101 percent increase over 2021. That marks the most-viewed first five days of the US Open ever on ESPN.

Caroline Garcia will advance to her first major semifinal after defeating Coco Gauff 6-3, 6-4 at the US Open on Tuesday.

The 28-year-old is riding a 13-match winning streak that dates back to her title run at the Cincinnati Open. She next will face No. 5 Ons Jabeur in the semifinals in New York.

Garcia, who began the year ranked No. 74 in the world, is the third French women’s player in the Open era to reach the US Open semifinals, joining Amelie Mauresmo (2002 and 2006) and Mary Pierce (2005).

While Garcia had lost each of her previous two matches against Gauff, she emerged victorious over the American teenager Tuesday night.

“It was a very intense match,” Garcia said. “Every point, every game was really tough. The atmosphere was really American with a lot of energy out there. I’m just very happy with the performance today, to manage the emotion in my game.”

The quarterfinal appearance caps a career year for Gauff, who was runner-up at the French Open in June. Before this year, she hadn’t won a match at Flushing Meadows. But this time around, up until her straight-set loss Tuesday, Gauff hadn’t ceded a set.

“Her level was great and I knew it was going to be great coming in, and I feel like I didn’t play at the level I needed to come out with the win today — but overall I’m super proud of myself for this tournament,” Gauff said. “But I’m hungry for more, so maybe next year.”

Garcia ended the match with 24 winners and 22 unforced errors. Gauff, meanwhile, had 18 winners and 24 unforced errors.

“You’re playing someone off the bat, they’re standing on top of the baseline and ripping balls, it’s not easy,” Gauff said. “She has the type of game that you kind of have to adjust to because I feel like it’s not hit-or-miss because she definitely makes more, but you’re hitting a good serve, and sometimes you’re not expecting the ball to come back as fast and as deep as she was hitting it.”

Serena Williams played in what is expected to be her final match Friday, as she fell in the third round at the US Open.

The New York tournament provided the setting for her first major title back in 1999, so it would be only fitting for the Grand Slam to serve as her last hurrah, as she implied in the Vogue cover story in which she announced her farewell from the sport.

Just Women’s Sports has everything you need to know about the legend’s last ride.

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