They grow up fast these days, and none faster than Coco Gauff.
In early July, she was a shaky tennis teenager possibly heading into the sport’s wilderness, struggling to answer questions about how someone who had once appeared so precocious, so destined for greatness, could still be waiting for her big moment.
In September, she is a U.S. Open finalist, the star attraction of her home Grand Slam tournament and the new face of her sport in America.
Gauff, the 19-year-old prodigy from steamy South Florida, beat Karolina Muchova of the Czech Republic, 6-4, 7-5, to reach her first U.