Coco Gauff Recalls Staying On The Phone With Her Boyfriend Until 1 A.M. The Night Before U.S. Open

Coco Gauff says she called up her boyfriend the night before the 2023 U.S. Open to help keep her mind on track before her massive win.

On Saturday, the 19-year-old won her first major title at the U.S. Open by securing a 2-6, 6-3, 6-2 victory against Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus at the Arthur Ashe Stadium in New York City. The win marks her first-ever Grand Slam title and her second-ever Grand Slam final.

Last year, the tennis star made it to the final at the 2022 French Open, but lost to world No. 1 Iga Świątek of Poland.

While speaking to reporters about her win on Saturday, Gauff explained that she thinks her previous loss stemmed in part from her thoughts before the match.

“Honestly, I didn’t have any of those visions [of winning] till last night,” she told reporters after her win, People reported. “You know, I thought about it, but I told myself to get it out of my head, because that’s what I did at French. I was envisioning, you know, what would happen if I would win. I think I wanted it too much.”

Gauff said this time around, she called her boyfriend to help keep her racing thoughts at bay.

“He asked if I wanted to talk about it, and I was like, ‘No,’” she told NBC’s “Today” show Monday. “Everything except that. I was like, ‘OK, it’s 1, so I have to go to sleep if I actually want to be productive tomorrow.’ I went to sleep.”

She added: “My last time I was in a Grand Slam final I couldn’t sleep the whole night, but talking to him helped me go to sleep.”

Gauff opened up about her thoughts on winning in the “Today” interview.

“It’s still crazy,” she said. “Even last night I was telling myself, ‘You’re a Grand Slam champion,’ and it doesn’t feel real at all.”

Gauff’s win makes her the youngest American to win the tournament since Serena Williams scored the title in 1999.