Coco Gauff and Katerina Siniakova Clinch First Grand Slam Doubles Title at Roland Garros 2024
Coco Gauff, the 20-year-old American tennis sensation, and Katerina Siniakova, holder of a Career Golden Slam in women’s doubles, joined forces for a remarkable debut at Roland Garros, ultimately claiming their first Grand Slam doubles title.
Despite Gauff’s initial uncertainty due to her planned Olympic partner Jessica Pegula’s injury, the duo’s synchronicity and expertise propelled them to victory.
With a 7-6(5), 6-3 victory over Sara Errani and Jasmine Paolini on Sunday, the American-Czech pair wrapped up their Roland Garros title run.
Gauff wasn’t sure if she would compete in any events other than singles at the clay-court major because her intended Olympic partner Jessica Pegula was still recovering from an injury. Two days prior to the event commencing, Siniakova, who has achieved a Career Golden Slam in women’s doubles, contacted Gauff with an invitation to collaborate. Gauff accepted the Czech’s offer.
It culminated with the two of them raising the trophy on Sunday. 11th seeds Sara Errani and Jasmine Paolini were upset by Gauff and Siniakova, 7-6 (5), 6-3. In the tiebreak, the No. 5 seeds overcame a 3-5 deficit to serve out the victory after winning their fifth break of the match.
After the win, Gauff told the media, “I think it’s just one of those things that when you least expect it to happen, it happens.” “The same thing happened at the US Open; I didn’t think I would win. It was a terrible year for me. Then, I didn’t even anticipate playing here.Life has a funny way of teaching you that sometimes it’s better to just relax and nice things will come your way.
Gauff and Pegula had been second in this event two years prior, and they had also advanced to the finals of the US Open in 2021 with Caty McNally. With her most recent six victories, Siniakova increased her record in major finals to 8-2. The 28-year-old achieved her maiden victory without Barbora Krejcikova’s assistance.
As a three-time champion in the French capital, Siniakova believed that the pair’s ability to gel so fast was due to their mutual experience and familiarity with one another’s styles of play.
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“We kind of needed to see how the other person is playing, but as far as I can tell, we weren’t having any issues with it. We had a great deal of mutual trust, and I believe that our combination was incredibly effective,” she stated. “Obviously, it helped a lot and gave us confidence when we won two or three games.”
Errani and Paolini, like Siniakova and Gauff, hope to return to the location in seven weeks for Paris 2024.
Paolini, who also made it to the singles final, said, “She asked me last year here in Roland Garros to play doubles together, to try to qualify for Olympics.” Despite our differences, I believe we work well together. I consider her to be one of the finest players at the net, therefore I try to push her from the baseline in order to serve well. That, I believe, is the key.
Speaking of switching surfaces, Gauff says, “Compared to what we’re used to, which is clay to grass, I believe the transition from grass to clay will be smoother.
Only once every four years does it occur. You just need to persevere through it and focus on your objectives. You’re not required to compete in the Olympics if you don’t want to. We both want to play, I know that.
