Coco Gauff can be a new ‘superstar’ alongside Iga Swiatek and Aryna Sabalenka says Boris Becker ahead of US Open

Boris Becker thinks Coco Gauff can be a new “superstar” on the WTA Tour and compete with Iga Swiatek and Aryna Sabalenka for Grand Slam titles.

World No. 1 Swiatek has won four Grand Slam singles titles in the last four years and is looking to add her fifth at the US Open at Flushing Meadows this month.

Meanwhile, world No. 2 Sabalenka won the Australian Open title at the start of 2023 and will be one of the favourites to win the US Open on her favoured hard court surface.

Becker says the American, whose career-best result at a Grand Slam is reaching the 2022 French Open final, is experiencing a “breakthrough” moment in her career and must be considered one of the favourites to win the US Open in front of a home crowd.

“That doesn’t make life any easier for a 15-year-old. That means the pressure increases, the expectations rise, and you also lose a bit of patience. Now I finally have to win something big. No, it was the final in Paris, but the big breakthrough didn’t happen.

“But this summer, now on the American hard courts, she won the tournament in Washington and beat the world number one Swiatek for the first time in the semi-finals in Cincinnati to win the final against [Karolina] Muchova.

“In this respect, I call this a breakthrough, it can be compared to [Jannik] Sinner, and now she is also in the tight circle of the absolute top favourites for the US Open, and that is nice for the scene.

“She is a great personality with a lot of charisma. She comes from America, which is the promised land of tennis with the most big tournaments. The women’s scene needs a superstar, and I’ll say Coco Gauff is one.”

Becker believes that it will not just be a straight battle between Swiatek and Sabalenka for the US Open women’s singles title and that there could be up to four genuine contenders in the fight.

“As a tennis fan, I think it’s good that there are more players,” he said.

“Apart from Sabalenka and Swiatek, and they have a realistic chance to win the tournament. From the point of view of the two players, yes, you get a bit hectic, you get a bit nervous. Winning makes you contagious, that is, you see it as normality to always make it to the final, and your opponent is already clear. That’s not per se, and I think it started in Wimbledon, when we saw two other players in the final.

For the tennis scene it’s good, so Swiatek and Sabalenka I see in the final four, definitely at this US Open. But we talked about Coco Gauff and maybe there’s someone else coming up that we all don’t have on our radar.

“But for the top players, defeats are like waking up, maybe training a little bit harder again, and that everyday feeling is gone for a while.”