adminPARIS. − American teenager Coco Gauff says her recent high-school graduation was tougher than reaching the semi-finals of the French Open for the first time.
The 18-year-old swept into the Roland Garros last four with a 7-5 6-2 win over fellow American Sloane Stephens.
Gauff combined her studies with competing on the WTA Tour and graduated before the tournament started.
She said: “Was graduating tougher? Yes because I know how hard it was to do school and play tennis on the road.”
Gauff, who made her debut on the WTA Tour aged 14, added: “Other players in general get out of sight with life and we think tennis is the most important thing in the world. It is not.
“So getting my high-school diploma meant a lot to me.”
Gauff won the French Open junior title in 2018 – the same year Stephens finished runner-up to Simona Halep in the women’s singles final.
She broke Stephens, 29, at the end of a tight first set and then took command of the second to set up a semi-final against Martina Trevisan.
Trevisan, 28, also reached the last four at Roland Garros for the first time after overcoming Leylah Fernandez 6-2 6-7 (3-7) 6-3. The Italian, who is ranked 59 in the world and is named after Martina Navratilova, spent four years away from tennis to battle an eating disorder.
In a blog in 2020 she explained how she had to be “re-educated to eat” having “closed myself in my cocoon” when her father was diagnosed with a degenerative disease.
“I’m happy on the court,” she said after Tuesday’s win.
“I’m doing what I love. So my past is the past, and it helped me to be in the present, to be what I am right now.”
Trevisan started confidently against Fernandez – the 19-year-old 2021 US Open finalist – who struggled with a foot injury. Fernandez, seeded 17, saved a match point in the second set, winning the tie-break comfortably, only for Trevisan to recover her poise in the deciding set. – BBC Sport.
Mathew Masinge
Online Reporter