Former tennis player Greg Rusedski praised Coco Gauff for introducing women’s tennis to a new audience of tennis fans and stated that the sport needs a couple of fierce rivalries.
Women’s tennis lost its biggest star and the player who held the No. 1 ranking at the moment when Ashleigh Barty surprisingly announced her retirement in March 2022.
Last year, Iga Swiatek completely dominated after Barty’s retirement, and Elena Rybakina also succeeded in winning a Grand Slam title at Wimbledon in 2022. Coco Gauff and Aryna Sabalenka joined the club of Grand Slam champions this year, giving Swiatek some competition.
Rusedski shared his thoughts in a podcast and said: “I think what we need is, we need a rivalry in the women’s game especially. Because in the men’s game, you’ve got Carlos, the young buck, versus Novak Djokovic, the legend of our sport. You know, you need a Coco-Swiatek, you need a Coco-Sabalenka. You need a group that’s playing in major finals or semis week in and week out.”
He further added: “I look back and part of why I loved tennis growing up as a kid was John McEnroe-Bjorn Borg finals, Martina Navratilova and Chrissie Evert, the longest and the greatest rivalry in tennis, playing over 80 times, that’s what people want to see and also, Coco brings another audience to the sport who aren’t tennis fans and that is a big plus.”
Coco Gauff in 2023
LWWWLLWLWW Ranked no.3 (career-high), Coco played her last match on the 9th of September when she overcame world no.1 Aryna Sabalenka 2-6 6-3 6-2 in the final of the U.S. Open to win her 6th career title.
Currently, during this year Coco owns an overall 45-13 match record. The American conquered 4 titles in 2023 in Auckland, Washington, Cincinnati and U.S. Open.
