Aryna Sabalenka beat her racket into submission after Coco Gauff’s U.S. Open win.
After she won the U.S. Open, Coco Gauff thanked those who doubted her, making light work of her opponents during the tournament, much to the dismay of her “haters.” Aryna Sabalenka was on that list and took that message personally.
After taking the first set, Sabalenka lost to Gauff in straight sets, handing Gauff her biggest career win. But Sabalenka’s pride was not the only thing that took a beating that day. A poor, unfortunate tennis racket also lost a battle.
Post-match, Sabalenka beat her racket into submission, allowing the floor to do the work she could not do on the court.
Une pensée émue pour la pauvre raquette d'Aryna Sabalenka, battue en finale de l'#USOpen par Coco Gauff 🙏 pic.twitter.com/WJmA2TSUtW
In a wild twist, Sabalenka is now ranked No. 1 worldwide after losing to Gauff. I can’t say I’ve ever seen a situation where it’s better to lose a major tournament than to win and beat a top-ten player.
Sending thoughts and good vibes to future rackets. May the odds be ever in their favor.
Coco Gauff’s mom was so, so excited for her daughter’s big U.S. Open win.
There’s nothing stronger than a parent’s love for their children, and there’s nothing more joyous than watching your kid achieve something in front of the entire world.
That’s the feeling that Candi Gauff had on Saturday as she watched her daughter Coco Gauff win the 2023 U.S. Open and complete her first career Grand Slam.
The second that Coco Gauff earned the historic victory, Candi Gauff became jubilant and celebrated her daughter’s major accomplishment. Seeing her be overcome with joy as her daughter stuns the world is just the absolute best.
The family love is clearly strong in the Gauff family, and now Coco Gauff will get to bring home the trophy and celebrate it with the rest of her family and all of her friends.
It’s a special moment for the Gauffs, one that further defines Coco Gauff as one of the world’s best tennis players.
Plenty of notable figures shared their congratulations with Gauff for her victory, including former President Barack Obama and tennis legend Billie Jean King.
Coco Gauff thanked her doubters after she won the U.S. Open.
Tennis phenom Coco Gauff won the U.S. Open on Saturday over Aryna Sabalenka in a stunner, and she had the perfect message after her victory.
As she was being interviewed for her historic U.S. Open win, Gauff made sure to thank the people that didn’t believe in her and doubted that she’d be able to win such a major tournament as a 19-year-old.
Doubting someone as talented as Gauff might seem like a strange thing to do, but such is the world we live in. However, Gauff made sure to explain how the skeptics who hadn’t been in her corner fueled her amazing U.S. Open.
“Honestly, thank you to the people who didn’t believe in me,” Gauff said after the match. “A month ago, I won a 500 title and people said I would stop at that. Two weeks ago, I won a 1000 title, and people were saying that was the biggest it was going to get. So, three weeks later, I’m here with this trophy right now.
“I tried my best to carry this with grace, and I’ve been doing my best… To those who thought [they] were putting water in my fire, you were really adding gas to it, and now I’m really burning so bright right now.”
Coco Gauff has a message to nonbelievers after winning US Open:
“Thank you to the people who didn’t believe in me. A month ago I won a 500 title & people said I’d stop at that. 2 weeks ago I won a 1000 title & people said that was as big as it’d get. 3 weeks later, I’m here”❤️ pic.twitter.com/79eLav7WZi
What a show of well-deserved confidence for one of the world’s best tennis players, one who will now hoist an elite accomplishment to go with her decorated career thus far.
Ah, it’s that time of year again: When the days grow shorter, football is nearly upon us … and Daniil Medvedev is getting into it with fans at the U.S. Open.
We’ve seen this happen before and on Thursday night, the jeers may have gotten to the pro before he overcame them to beat Christopher O’Connell at Louis Armstrong Stadium in four sets.
There was one moment in which one fan yelled right before a serve. You can hear him say, “Can you shut up? … Are you stupid or what?” And the fan he’s aiming that at blew him a kiss. Too funny!
Medvedev was upset with 2 fans who were walking while he was trying to serve
Jimmy Butler has truly helped inspire tennis star Coco Gauff.
While competing at the US Open this year, Coco Gauff has had the support of Miami Heat star Jimmy Butler.
Gauff, who is ranked No. 6 in the official women’s tennis rankings, has won both of her matches during the opening rounds of the US Open tournament in New York. The 19-year-old Gauff won her most recent match against Mirra Andreeva in straight sets.
She is already off to a much better start at the US Open than she had at Wimbledon in London earlier this summer when she was eliminated in the first round by Sofia Kenin.
According to Gauff, recently crowned champion at both the Washington Open and the Western & Southern Open, it is mostly a mentality change that has contributed to her winning ways. Gauff said that so much of that mindset was actually inspired by Butler (via NY Daily News):
“That switch I had in the last couple weeks. people think some incredible thing happened,” the sixth-seeded Gauff said. “But realistically, the two weeks between Wimbledon and the next tournament I played, nothing could have really changed that much. It was really just the mental thing. I think that’s what I learned from watching Jimmy compete over the years.”
Butler is celebrated for his wildly competitive approach on the court, so he is a perfect person to help Gauff channel her mental tenacity.
While attending the US Open this week, Butler was asked about his friendship with Gauff (via ESPN):
“She is so emotional, in a good way, and she is a champion and I love that she is from the city that I work in and I love to be here and support her and I want her to win every single time.”
Court 17 at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center has become notorious for a funny reason during the 2023 U.S. Open.
Multiple players have complained about the smell of marijuana (which is legal in New York) courtwafting in from … somewhere. Is it someone lighting up in the stands while the tournament is going on?
My theory, as someone who has played and visited there: It’s possible the smell is coming from Corona Park, which is adjacent to the court. But either way, this is a trend.
“It was weed,” Maria Sakkari mentioned after her first-round loss, via USA TODAY Sports. “The smell, oh my gosh.”
She also smelled it during practice, and added that it didn’t affect her match.
Alexander Zverev said the same, with this funny quote:
"It 𝙨𝙢𝙚𝙡𝙡𝙨 like Snoop Dogg's living room!"
There's something in the air at the US Open (or at least on Court 17) that players can't help but notice …#USOpenpic.twitter.com/9TsXn3j9zI
An executive with the USGA defended McIlroy, as well as the veteran official who gave the ruling.
It’s been just more than a week since Rory McIlroy lost the 2023 U.S. Open to Wyndham Clark by one shot after he made a crucial bogey on the par 5 14th hole, his lone blemish of the final round.
And if you can think back to Sunday at Los Angeles Country Club, you’ll remember McIlroy got a favorable ruling from an embedded lie that allowed him to drop in the bunker to only make bogey to remain in contention.
On Monday, an executive with the United States Golf Association told Sports Illustrated that McIlroy took an incorrect drop after consulting with a veteran rules official.
“The nearest point of relief was mis-identified; it should have been directly behind the ball,” said the USGA’s chief governance officer, Thomas Pagel. “If there’s no area immediately behind the ball, you go to nearest point in the general area. But if you look at where the ball was embedded, there was a grassy area below and that should have been the starting point.”
Rory McIlroy gets relief from an embedded ball on the 14th green during the final round of the 123rd U.S. Open Championship at The Los Angeles Country Club on June 18, 2023, in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Richard Heathcote/Getty Images)
McIlroy’s third shot to the 14th green got caught in thick grass surrounding a greenside bunker, and after a short search his playing partner, Scottie Scheffler, found the ball. Rules official Courtney Myrhum, who has officiated more than 60 USGA championships, confirmed the ball was embedded and allowed McIlroy to take a free drop.
“His ball was 100 percent embedded,” Pagel said in agreement with the official. “And an embedded ball not in sand is entitled to relief. Now Rory did everything at the discretion of the referee. In her discretion, her judgment was that the reference point for relief was to the side of the ball. And from a ruling standpoint, that’s the end of the story.”
Pagel continued to defend Myrhum, noting how “she’s an extremely well-qualified referee and she did everything in her judgment where to operate the drop. However, after further review, it was determined that there was a spot in the general area immediately behind the ball that was the reference point for relief.”
Because there was space between the ball and the bunker, McIlroy was entitled to a one-club length drop, no closer to the hole, from the “the general area” of the embedded spot, meaning a drop from the bunker was incorrect.
“If you look at where the ball embedded, just below should have been the starting point (for taking one club length relief),” Pagel said. “But even if his club length had been measured from behind the ball, he still would have been dropping on the shelf from where he played from. As it was, he measured the club length from the top of the wall to the right. As he dropped the ball out of that area, he had to drop a second time.”
“When you start dealing with vertical faces, that’s where the question is,” Pagel added. “In this case, there was a lot going on. But there was a place behind the ball where he could have started to measure.”
“From where he started measuring from, he didn’t get a break. And he did all of this at the discretion of the referee. He wasn’t doing anything to gain an advantage and as he was told how to apply the rule on where to drop.”
It appears that Schauffele broke a one-wine-bottle-per-player rule.
Wanted dead or alive? It’s not just the name of a Bon Jovi song.
It’s actually a headline from a framed poster in player hospitality at the U.S. Open last week at Los Angeles Country Club, a public announcement not by a law enforcement agency – although they sometimes act like one – but rather by the USGA, one of golf’s governing bodies, that it desires to question or arrest Xander Schauffele for making off with multiple bottles of wine. The reward (in best Dr. Evil voice): $1 million.
The poster made the rounds on social media when it caught the attention of viewers in the background of a video posted by the USGA. It showed U.S. Open champion Wyndham Clark celebrating his triumph by drinking an undisclosed alcoholic beverage out of the winner’s trophy, but others were more focused on the upper-right-hand corner of the screen and why there was a bounty on the head of Schauffele, the No. 6-ranked player in the world and this week’s defending champion at the Travelers Championship.
Here’s the back story: Four shelves stocked from side-to-side with bottles of red and white from the likes of Faust (a personal favorite), A. Rafanelli, Groth, Roth and Chalk Hill were available for players to enjoy. It’s a pretty sweet perk, one of many bestowed upon the field of 156.
A sign posted above the wine displays says: “Wine for players courtesy of USGA. Spieth/Schauffele rule in effect (One bottle only).”
You might think players would know better than to start double-fisting free bottles of wine at a major but then you’d be wrong. Apparently, at the 2022 U.S. Open at The Country Club in Brookline, Massachusetts, Xander Schauffele was caught red-handed (see photo below with hand-in-the-cookie-jar expression on his face).
Xander Schauffele at the 2022 U.S. Open.
Props to the USGA for having some fun and showing a sense of humor.
The U.S. Open can be such a pressure-cooker that sometimes a little light-hearted locker room prank is just the release valve needed to keep a player loose. Bravo to the USGA.
During Sunday’s final round of the 123rd U.S. Open, Wyndham Clark escaped with just one dropped shot at the par-5 eighth hole after his second shot bounced left and into a dry barranca. On his first attempt to dislodge the ball from the underbrush, his club slid underneath the ball and didn’t move. He hacked at it again and this time the ball screamed over the green. At that moment, Clark said his mind started racing and it looked as if his dream of winning a major might unravel like a spool of thread. Fortunately, caddie John Ellis stepped in to set his player at ease.
“He said, ‘Hey, Dub, we’re fine. We’re just going to get this up-and-down and we’re fine,’” recalled Clark.
Clark, 29, and Ellis, 43, are back at it this week at TPC River Highlands for the Travelers Championship in Cromwell, Connecticut. The duo first teamed up at Oregon in 2016 after Clark transferred there from Oklahoma State for his senior year. Oregon had just won the national title and its star player, Aaron Wise, turned pro, freeing up enough financial aid for men’s head coach Casey Martin, who had recruited Clark in high school when he played in the Pacific Coast Amateur in Eugene, Oregon, to bring him on board. At the same time, Ellis’s pro career was fizzling out.
He had turned pro in 2003 after being named a two-time All-Pac-10 player at Oregon and bounced around golf’s minor leagues, winning the Canadian Tour’s Order of Merit in 2008 and twice qualifying for the U.S. Open in 2008 and 2011. Between 2004 and 2011, “Jelly,” as the other caddies call him, played in nine PGA Tour events, missing the cut in seven of them, and made just 16 Korn Ferry Tour starts between 2005 and 2015. With his playing career stalled, Ellis turned to coaching, returning to his alma mater as an assistant to Martin.
Clark, who lost his mother at age 19 and was prone to emotional outbursts on the course, was in need of a fresh start. Martin looked to Ellis to help rebuild his confidence on the course.
“I put a plan in place to get him get him back to where his talent could come out. I just kind of connected the dots,” Martin said. “At our first event, I said, ‘You’re going to be watching over this guy a lot. I want you to caddie for him and play a big role in his life and just be with him all the time and make sure he’s mentally and emotionally in a good place.’ John did an unbelievable job for a guy that’s never coached before. He and Wyndham hit it off. He has an amazing ability to kind of tease Wyndham and to get his point across without being overly serious. He absolutely nailed it.”
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Under Ellis’s watchful eye, Clark blossomed into the 2017 Pac-12 Conference individual champion and was named Golfweek’s Collegiate Player of the Year.
Unfortunately, for Martin, Ellis did such a good job that when Clark turned pro, he took Ellis with him to be his caddie. Ellis had played enough at the highest level to realize Clark had all the tools to be a star on the PGA Tour.
“I mean, he is a huge talent. I mean, he’s not a medium talent. He is a massive, massive talent,” Martin said. “I mean, top 10 player in the world talent wise, for sure. If he just, you know, doesn’t get in his own way, which is easier said than done.”
Strangely enough, Ellis had a reputation for being a hot-head too, the type of player who didn’t hesitate to snap a club in half if it was misbehaving. But as a caddie for the past five years, he’s been a calming influence for Clark.
“He was Tyrrell Hatton as a player and Tony Robbins as a caddie,” CBS analyst Colt Knost said.
In what he described as an intervention, Ellis was a prominent voice in convincing Clark to begin seeing mental coach Julie Elion, which has paid quick dividends. Last week, Clark described Ellis, who was awarded the first-ever U.S. Open Caddie Award, as a friend, mentor and coach, too.
Wyndham Clark holds up his trophy with his caddie John Ellis after winning the 2023 Wells Fargo Championship at Quail Hollow Club in Charlotte. (Photo: Jim Dedmon-USA TODAY Sports)
“Our relationship has been so close and John has been kind of my rock out here. He’s a great caddie, and he’s had opportunities to caddie for other people and he turned it down because he wanted to be there for me,” Clark said. “I owe a lot to him. I feel like John is meant to be my caddie, but it’s so much more than just a business relationship. We’re really close and good friends, and I’m close with his family and he’s close with mine. This just makes it so much more special that we have that bond and relationship.”
