NEW YORK (AP) — So much has happened for — in tennis, away from tennis — since she first played Coco Gauff at the back in 2019.
Over that time, Osaka has won two Grand Slam trophies to raise her career total to four, helped spark a global conversation about mental health by revealing she felt anxiety and depression, taken a series of breaks from the tour and become a mother.
The at Flushing Meadows on Monday serves as both a reminder — to them, to others — of that night six years ago, as well as all that’s transpired since.
“Just to be at this point of my life and to be playing her again,” Osaka said, “is, honestly, for me … kind of special.”
Osaka was 21 and the reigning champion at the U.S. Open and Australian Open; Gauff was 15 and playing in only her second Grand Slam tournament and first in New York. Osaka won in straight sets in Arthur Ashe Stadium, but what was most memorable was .
Gauff was crying, and Osaka walked over to console her and suggest that she address the crowd — highly unusual for the loser of a match. But Osaka knew the fans would want to hear from the young American who already was showing signs of becoming the star she is today.
“I remember it was a tough moment for me, because it was a hyped-up match. I remember looking back at it. I guess I put way too much pressure on myself thinking I maybe had a chance in that moment to actually do something, which I definitely did,” Gauff said Saturday, “but I think it was just I felt more expectation that I should, than maybe belief.”
Osaka recalls recognizing how much talent and poise Gauff possessed for such a young player.
“I thought she just handled herself really well,” said Osaka, who is seeded 23rd at Flushing Meadows and recently began working with Iga Swiatek’s former coach, Tomasz Wiktorowski, “and I knew she was going to be back there.”
After winning the U.S. Open again in 2020, Osaka triumphed at the Australian Open in January 2021. At the next Grand Slam tournament, she pulled out before her second-round match and explained the off-court struggles she had been dealing with, then took the first of a handful of mental health breaks.
The Australian Open, 4 1/2 years ago, was the last major where Osaka made it to the fourth round until now. She was off the tour for part of that stretch while on maternity leave.
On Saturday, she spoke about “the journey getting back here.”
“I just feel happy,” said Osaka, 27, “because I feel like all of my hard work is amounting to something.”
Gauff, now 21, and the French Open this June and is seeded No. 3 in New York while working with .
“Naomi and I, we aren’t super close or anything, but we’re definitely friendly with each other. I support her from afar in all the things that she’s done on and off the court,” Gauff said.
“It would be a cool kind of deja vu-type of situation,” she said, guessing that this rematch will be in Ashe, too, “but hopefully it will be a different result.”
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Howard Fendrich has been the AP’s tennis writer since 2002. Find his stories here: . More AP tennis:
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