Despite her persistent protestations, Cori “Coco” Gauff has already been anointed by the tennis world as the heir apparent following the retirement of the iconic Serena Williams in 2022.
Gauff, 19, is currently the best and highest-ranked of the many Black women who have played in the 2023 U.S. Open Grand Slam tournament in Queens, New York, and other places.
As Gauff prepares to meet nemesis Caroline Wozniacki inside the cavernous Billie Jean King tennis complex in Flushing on Sunday, Sept. 3, 2023, multiple other Black women have made an impact during the competition, including Taylor Townsend, Alycia Parks, Sachia Vickery, Robin Montgomery, Madison Keys, Sloane Stephens, Clervie Ngounoue and Asia Muhammad.
Here is how several of the sisters on the tennis tour have performed at the 2023 U.S. Open in New York.
- Gauff earned a spot in the fourth round of the grand slam championships by coming from behind for the second time in three matches, dispatching Belgium’s Elise Mertens after another slow start, 3-6, 6-3, 6-0.
- The charismatic and demonstrative Taylor Townsend advanced past the second round after defeated 19th-seeded Beatriz Haddad Maia in a 7-6 (1), 7-5 upset, but she lost in the third round to Varvara Gracheva in straight sets, 6-4, 6-2.
- Madison Keys is also changing the racial paradigm in tennis and is currently ranked 17th in the world. Keys, whose father is Black, made it to the fourth round after dispatching Lludmila Samsonova in a come-from-behind victory, 5-7, 6-2, 6-2.
- Sachia Vickery got past No. 21 seeded player, Donna Vekic of Croatia, in three sets on Wednesday.
- On Saturday, Robin Montgomery, 17, won the U.S. Junior Girls singles title by vanquishing Belarussian Kristina Dmitruk 6-2, 6-4. Montgomery announced her future star status when she later went on to take the girls’ doubles title with Texas’ Ashlyn Krueger.
- Alycia Parks boasts rankings of No. 28 in the world in doubles and No. 42 in singles, but she lost her singles match on Tuesday to No. 13 seed Daria Kasatkina 2-6, 6-4, 6-2.
- Other notable Black women on the WTA tour include Clervie Ngounoue who won the Wimbledon girls’ singles back in July.
