Before losing to Sabalenka in this year’s Australian Open semifinal, Gauff defeated the Belarusian 2-6 6-3 6-2 in the 2023 US Open final for her first Grand Slam title. After losing the 2022 French Open final to Iga Swiatek, 19-year-old Gauff managed to win her second Slam final and lift her first Major title.
After beating Sabalenka in the 2023 US Open final, Gauff was asked when the visions of becoming a Grand Slam champion at the US Open became real. Gauff revealed that happened only the night before the US Open final and that’s when she decided to call her boyfriend and speak with him for hours before going to sleep.
“Honestly, I didn’t have any of those visions till last night. You know, I thought about it, but I told myself to get it out of my head, because that’s what I did at French. I was envisioning, you know, what would happen if I would win. I think I wanted it too much,” Gauff said after winning the US Open.
“Last night, I started a little bit, but honestly, I just called my boyfriend, and I told him let’s talk until it’s time to go to sleep so we spoke until 1:00 am and then I went to sleep.
“I woke up this morning. When I lost the first set I still felt I was into the match and I said, you know, I’m going to give it my all. You know, whatever happens happens.
“Even on that match point, you know, 40-Love, like, technically the match was on my racket. It didn’t feel like I had won. It was crazy. I was just trying my best to just focus on the point ahead of me.”
