Now that the post-match mini drama surrounding Coco Gauff’s marvelous French Open victory over Aryna Sabalenka has subsided, and players are adjusting to a different tennis court surface, I want to shift the spotlight to a cast of African American players whose performance at Roland Garros deserves a resounding ovation.
From the perspective of a Black tennis fan, this year’s French Open, the second major tournament of the season, was one for the record books.
For starters, take the round of 16, the fourth round, the round before the quarterfinals. Mainstream media hyped the fact that eight Americans made it that far for the first time in four decades. But what went unmentioned, if not unnoticed, was five of those eight players were Black.
Coco Gauff, Hailey Baptiste and Madison Keys were among the five women to make the round of 16. Ben Shelton and Frances Tiafoe were among the three men who advanced to that round.
I can’t recall that many African American players ever advancing that deep into a single tournament, let alone a Grand Slam event. What a remarkable achievement in a sport that had been reluctant to embrace players of color until just a few decades ago.
Unfortunately, the women players were in the same section of the draw and ended up bumping one another off. Keys, the 2025 Australian Open champion, stopped Baptiste’s run in their fourth-round matchup. Gauff then knocked Keys off in a tense three-set quarterfinal in her push to the championship.
For Baptiste, 23, who is coached by Tiafoe’s twin brother, Franklin, and learned her tennis on the same courts in Maryland where Frances Tiafoe grew up, it was the deepest run at a major in what is becoming a breakout year on the Women’s Tennis Association tour.
The run on the red dirt in Paris also earned Baptiste her biggest paycheck at a smidge over $300,000. And she moved up to a career-high ranking of No. 56.
On the men’s circuit, Shelton’s run ended in the fourth round with a loss to eventual champion Carlos Alcaraz.
Tiafoe, 27, on the other hand, joined Tommy Paul as the first American men to be among the final eight standing at the French Open in decades. And Tiafoe further distinguished himself as the first American man to reach the quarterfinals without dropping a set since Andre Agassi in 1995.
Amid all this spectacular play in the singles events, Chicago homies Taylor Townsend and Evan King were quietly surging to the finals in mixed doubles where they came up short. I say quietly because unless you’re looking for it, you would not know mixed doubles was part of the tournament. That’s just how little coverage the event receives.
But King also reached the semifinals in men’s doubles, and Townsend made the quarterfinals in women’s doubles. Townsend, 29, has two women’s doubles titles on her resume, including this year’s Australian Open.
What makes all these accomplishments at Roland-Garros even more remarkable is that they occurred on clay, typically the worst surface for most American players who grow up playing and training on hard courts.
But for Gauff, it’s becoming clear that clay may be her best surface, even though her first major title came on the hard courts of the US Open in 2023.
That’s one reason why I felt Gauff would win this year’s French Open title. Consider this: She won the girls title at 14. It was the only major title she won as a junior, having been routed in the girls US Open championship a year earlier.
Coming into Roland Garros, the 21-year-old superstar had reached two straight WTA 1000 tournaments on red clay. In the first one in Madrid, Sabalenka rolled over her in the final. In Rome, she lost to Italian Jasmine Paolini.
In addition to the Sabalenka revenge factor, Gauff also had the experience of playing in a Roland-Garros final. She lost there in 2023 to Iga Swiatek. Last year, she reached the semifinals.
So, when it came to this year’s final pitting World No. 1 Sabalenka against No. 2 Gauff, my money was on Coco.
In becoming the youngest American women to win the French Open in 23 years, and the first since Serena Williams a decade ago, Gauff used the same strategy she employed at the US Open where she defeated Sabalenka for her first major title.
In both finals, she lost the first set. She then proceeded to make Sabalenka hit one ball after another that most likely would have been winners against players less athletically gifted. Sabalenka wound up getting flustered and started overhitting.
Sabalenka essentially wound up beating herself. The championship point at this year’s French Open, came on Sabalenka’s 70th unforced error in the match.
After the match, Sabalenka sparked a little controversy when she said she had played the worst match of her life and blamed the windy conditions for her poor play. Some in the tennis universe called it poor sportsmanship, saying Sabalenka failed to give due credit to Gauff’s performance. Sabalenka later apologized.
I, however, was not mad at the hard-hitting Belarussian for what she said. In fact, I agreed. She did play one of the worst matches of her career. The conditions were terrible. Gauff, who had 41 unforced errors herself, said as much in her post-match interview.
“I’m really happy with the fight that I put in today,” Coco said. “It wasn’t pretty, but it got the job done.”
The bottom line was Gauff played through the conditions better than Sabalenka and won the match. It was as simple as that.
Tennis channel analyst Paul Annacone, former coach of Pete Sampras and Roger Federer, credited Gauff’s mental fortitude as much as her physical talent, saying Gauff was “really smart” in how she played under tough windy conditions.
“She won this because of what’s between the ears,” Annacone said. “She’s an amazing talent and an amazing competitor.”
I could not agree more. I think we have yet to see Coco consistently play her best tennis. When her game reaches that level, we will be in for an exhilarating ride.
But while we’re on the Coco Gauff train, let’s not forget about the other super talented Black players aboard.
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TennisintheHood 