Coco Gauff wins the U.S. Open for her first Grand Slam title at age 19

Coco Gauff holds up the championship trophy after defeating Aryna Sabalenka in the women's singles final of the U.S. Open tennis championships on Saturday in New York. (Frank Franklin II/AP)

NEW YORK — This was what so many folks figured Coco Gauff would do at some point. Didn't matter how young she was. Didn't matter whether there were setbacks along the way. Those outsized expectations did not make the task of becoming a Grand Slam champion as a teenager any easier — especially when that chorus was accompanied by voices of others who doubted her.

She did it, though. At age 19. At the U.S. Open, where she used to come as a kid with her parents to watch her idols, Serena and Venus Williams, compete.