Bill Simons
Tennis loves contrasts.
Left versus right. Strength against touch. Youth versus age. Fire against ice.
But tonight’s US Open semifinal offers one of the starkest personality contrasts in the women’s game.
Vibrant and open, tears and giggles – Coco Gauff lets you in.
Yelena Rybakina: no.
Gauff has been touring since she was 15, but somehow the 22-year-old is still fascinated by what surrounds her. He laughs. He laughs. He talks about music and fashion, exciting celebrities and provocative politics. He will discuss black history, social issues, rappers, influencers and what he did last night. Want some cultural hot takes? Coco has a lot going for her. And yes, with a twinkle in his eye, he can’t help but make fun of his little brothers and unfortunate dad.
His must-see press conferences are story factories.
And his tennis?
It’s a whole other adventure.
Nobody wins in a messier way. Almost half games are three-way. Crashes, derailments, double-digit malfunctions and landings in the next area codes are the engines of the Coco train.
Still, the top player on the WTA Tour has won two Slams, is ranked No. 4 in the world and, incidentally, is the favorite kid to play with a conquistador named Carlos.
Brad Gilbert famously preaches “ugly wins,” and no other player embodies that ethos more than Coco.
But why?
It’s not that complicated. Gauff’s two most vulnerable strokes, the two strokes in American tennis, are the serve and the forehand.
And Cocos are incomplete. They can go straight south.
But no worries. Gauff calls on his extraordinary heart, speed, athleticism, experience, defensive wizardry, competitive will and what he happily describes as his sometimes “delusional” confidence.
Elena Rybakina, who will end Aryna Sabalenka’s 99-week reign at No. 1 on Monday, offers a different universe.
The tall, thin Kazakh is the unstable ambassador. Win a great score, lose a terrible score. blink and you might miss the reaction. He has one of the great tennis serves. His clean, powerful playing is a spectacular marvel. He just beat Coco in Toronto. The reigning Australian Open champion is an impressive force. He played clutch ball.
But his inner world seems to be under lock and key. After winning Wimbledon in 2022, he gave us the most timid response imaginable. gentle fist, smile.
Lindsay Davenport noted that “he won’t let you in. We don’t know what he’s thinking.” Mary Carrillo noted that she is not exactly a New Yorker.
He’s all business, his mask rarely slips.
Perhaps that’s why his sudden burst against Zheng Qinwen in the quarterfinals was so stunning.
After dropping the first set, a hapless Rybakina got into a heated exchange with her controversial longtime coach Stefano Vukov. He later admitted that “I was quite negative” and he was “a bit emotional”. Vukov was trying to get him to refocus on their game plan.
It worked.
Rybakina got closer to the baseline, became more aggressive and came back to beat Olympic champion Qinwen Zheng. The victory sent him into his first US Open semi-final and, more significantly, he secured the No. 1 ranking.
Her relationship with Vukov has long been one of the more complicated, controversial partnerships in tennis. They broke up in 2024, and their relationship led to an investigation and Vukov’s eventual suspension. Eventually they reunited.
Still, their dynamic raised problematic questions. However, through it all, Rybakina has steadfastly supported him.
Now open as a book, Coco meets the most inexplicable tennis champion.
Cool and then dramatic Coco invites us for a walk. Elena is a mystery within an enigma. He keeps the door closed.
Now Rybakina is number 1 and the new face of the women’s game. So now, from the top of the mountain, will he open up a bit?
Will he let us in?
BILLIONAIRES AND DREAMERS. Tennis has always had a complicated relationship with money and class.
The modern game originated on the manicured lawns of Victorian England. Kings and emperors accepted it. The Riviera, Newport, the Hamptons, and Palm Springs became his playgrounds. Leaf shelters were the game’s safe haven. Regular sports fans, hot dogs in hand, described tennis and its cousin golf as “the country’s club sports.”
Even today, the costs of coaching, equipment and travel make the game a tough challenge for families without tidy trust funds or annuities.
So perhaps it should have come as no surprise that when Jessica Pegula and Emma Navarro walked into Arthur Ashe Stadium on Tuesday, the attractive daughters of the two billionaires were playing in the semifinals of the US Open.
Pegula’s father, Terry, made his fortune in oil and gas. He owns the Buffalo Bills and Buffalo Sabers and has a net worth of $11.8 billion. Navarro’s father, Ben, built a credit card and financial services empire, owns major tennis facilities and is worth $3.2 billion.
But that’s only half the story. Tennis has an equally powerful counter-story.
Althea Gibson was born into a sharecropper family in South Carolina before growing up in Harlem. Arthur Ashe grew up in a caretaker’s cabin in a secluded park in Richmond where his father worked. Billie Jean King was the daughter of a fireman. Jimmy Connors’ father operated a toll bridge in East St. Louis.
And just before Pegula and Navarro appeared in court on Tuesday, it was Frances Tiafoe.
His parents came to America from Sierra Leone. As a child, Francis slept next to his father in a small room at the Junior Champions Tennis Center in Maryland, where his father worked maintenance.
Then there’s Novak Djokovic.
As war and sanctions hit Serbia, his family struggled to fund their Belgrade boy’s incredible tennis dreams. Djokovic remembers his father putting ten German marks on the table.
“That’s all we’ve got.”
The message was unmistakable. The family’s financial future now rested on young Novak’s shoulders. Don’t screw it up.
Money can buy training, travel, equipment, time and opportunity. But hunger also has its advantages. It may be one of tennis’ enduring allures. Mardy Fish’s father told his son.
So, on one side of the tennis net can stand the pride of a billionaire. On the other hand, the son of a refugee. The ball doesn’t know the difference.
STRIKE AGAINST THE SPANISH ARMADA. A gazillion years ago America defeated Spain in a war. “Remember the Maine.” But when it comes to Spanish sports against America or on American soil, things have been pretty bleak; well that was until Ben Shelton raised the flag and ended Carlos Alcaraz’s 13-0 career Grand Slam hitting streak against American players.
At the World Cup, Spain went undefeated in eight games en route to the title. Spain have won four of their last five Davis Cup matches against the United States. And Spain’s best player, a guy named Nadal, once won 27 straight Grand Slam matches against the Americans and won more than 80% of his matches against the red, white and blue.
FOUNDERS: Arthur Fils defeated Francis Taifo in the first ATP Masters 1000 All Blacks final in Cincinnati in August. On Friday, Tiafoe will face Ben Shelton in the first men’s Grand Slam semifinal between two black players.