Everyone felt awful because Coco Gauff felt awful. That’s what her past couple of weeks meant. Her tears became everyone’s tears Saturday at the French Open.
Her parents were crying. Her fans were crying. Mary Carillo said she began crying in the NBC broadcast booth, and partner John McEnroe said it got to him before he stiff-upper-lipped it by saying Gauff would be back in these situations, “Many, many times and win.”
This was just after Gauff, the 18-year-old from Delray Beach, lost in the tournament finals to the new power in women’s tennis, Iga Swiatek, 6-1, 6-3. The French crowd, seeing Gauff struggle, tried to boost her with the kind of ovation that said thanks, godspeed and not so much au revoir as in goodbye but in the literal, “to the seeing you again.”
