Coco Gauff‘s journey this season has been nothing short of a rollercoaster ride. Just when everyone thought she wasn’t in the best form to win any event (owing to multiple early-round exits), the 21-year-old stunned the world with her magical run on the Parisian clay. In the summit clash at the Roland Garros, the American star stunned World No.1 Aryna Sabalenka to capture her second career slam. However, her compatriot and an 18-time slam queen believes it’s not Gauff who’s on the higher pedestal of tennis when it comes to the current WTA landscape. Seems like it’s Sabalenka, and a six-time slam champion, ruling women’s tennis at the moment.

Martina Navratilova recently sat down for a brief interaction with Sky Sports to discuss all things tennis amid the ongoing US Open in New York. The interviewer was keen to know the former WTA icon’s opinions about the current situation in women’s tennis. When asked which players are unmatched compared to the rest of the competition, she had an extremely honest admission to make.

Despite Gauff’s recent triumph in Paris, Navratilova believes it’s Sabalenka and recently crowned Wimbledon champion Iga Swiatek who are “Two superstars” of tennis. She stated that they are “head and shoulders over everybody” While Navratilova called Gauff a “Massive superstar”, she reminded that lately her ranking has come down to No.3 from being No.2. Overall, “tennis-wise it’s been Iga and Sabalenka really the last three years.” But then, Navratilova also revealed the real reason why the Belarusian and the Pole are two unmatched forces. According to her, they “both just have the mentality of a champion. They really don’t have any holes in their game technically. They don’t necessarily have a plan B.”

She further added, “Sabalenka overpowers people. Swiatek does too, does it as well with her legs, but they can beat you a few different ways, and no technical weaknesses, and massive weapons. For Swiatek, it’s her movement and her forehand. With the topspin, she pulls off the court, Sabalenka just comes at you and has added a much better net game to it and touch. So yeah, those two are just head and shoulders (above) right now.”

For Gauff, the situation has turned worse lately following the heartbreaking loss at the US Open. Nearly two months ago, at the grass major, Ukraine’s Dayana Yastremska ousted her in the first round. And this week, it was Japan’s Naomi Osaka – also a four-time slam winner – who bested her in straight sets. But the American, despite all the on-court hardships, is still hopeful.

Coco Gauff shows resilience despite saddening US Open outcome

Coco Gauff was looking to recreate her magic from the 2023 edition, where she went on to win the trophy. However, Naomi Osaka didn’t give her any chance to leave an impression at the Arthur Ashe Stadium during their fourth round clash.

The former World No.1 and Japanese star dominated Gauff with a scoreline of 6-3, 6-2. She wrapped up the match in just an hour and four minutes to seal her semifinal spot for a third time at the Flushing Meadows. Osaka has won the title as well twice (2018 and 2020).

However, Gauff chose to find the silver lining even in the moments of hopelessness. Speaking during the post-match conference, she said, “I think that, trying to be more positive. I mean, after the match, I was really disappointed, kind of broke down to my team, and then hearing their perspectives and everything.”

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Making a promise to come back stronger, the 21-year-old noted, “It definitely is a lot of positive things if I think I kept the way I was going in Cincinnati to here, I would have been out the first round. And so I think that where my serve started from the start of the tournament to today was a big improvement. And I feel like, now I just have to get everything to work together.” It will be intriguing to see how the two-time slam winner makes a solid return going forward to close out the season on a high note.

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