Women's Tennis

Sloane Stephens is aiming to end her playing career on a high.

Stephens acknowledged to USA Today's Mike Freeman that time isn't on her side, but affirmed she's "serious" about her target of winning at least one more Grand Slam title and then retiring.

"Obviously I'm getting older. I'm 30," she said. "Do I think I'm going to win the French Open? I don't know. Is it possible? Maybe. But like, I just think that I've got a lot of tennis (left) and I think that's a good goal (winning another Grand Slam event).

"I always say it's nice to have something to look forward to. So yeah, I think that would obviously be an amazing feat if I did do that. It would be nice to finish on a good note."

In a January appearance on the Australian Open's Cinema Sessions series, the 30-year-old said she would basically walk away on the spot if she ever wins another Grand Slam tournament.

"If I win a Grand Slam, I'm never playing tennis again," she said. "That would be the last—I'll be like, 'I'll see you guys never.' I'm out."

Stephens preceded that by saying "there's more" when asked broadly whether she has "big plans" in the future.

The door to a second Grand Slam trophy is obviously open as long as the she keeps going, but the odds might be against her by this point. Her lone triumph came at the 2017 U.S. Open, and the 2018 French Open is the last time she advanced to a Grand Slam quarterfinal.

The French Open has historically been Stephens' most consistent Grand Slam showing. She advanced to the fourth round in 2012 when she was just 19. Then came the runner-up showing in 2018 before quarterfinal trips in 2019 and 2022.

Perhaps Stephens can be afforded her storybook sendoff this summer.

Arantxa Sánchez Vicario, a former world No. 1 tennis player who won four Grand Slams, was found guilty of fraud in a Spanish court Wednesday.

Sánchez Vicario and her ex-husband, Josep Santacana, admitted to hiding assets in an attempt to avoid paying debts to Banque de Luxembourg. She received a two-year prison sentence, but that was waived as part of a first-time offenders' program.

The pair will have to pay a fine of 6.6 million euros ($7.1 million).

Sánchez Vicario accused Santacana of the wrongdoing, saying he was in control of her money. The court disagreed, saying Sánchez Vicario "had full knowledge of what was done with her assets and was benefiting from them, with the full awareness of the debt she had with Banque de Luxembourg."

Sánchez Vicario won $16.9 million in prize money during her tennis career. She made 12 Grand Slam finals, winning three French Opens (1989, 1994, 1998) and the 1994 U.S. Open.

The 52-year-old was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 2007 and has served as a coach during her post-playing career, most notably with Caroline Wozniacki.

The USTA's homage to The Wild Thornberrys didn't exactly go over well.

In a since-deleted post on social media, the organization shared a photo depicting the seeded Americans ahead of the Australian Open. The players were drawn in the style of the animation from the old Nickelodeon cartoon.

Coco Gauff didn't hold back and called it the "worst thing I've ever seen":

"Y'all I know it is a cartoon show but I think I would prefer to be drawn as a Bratz art style and not this," she also said in a since-deleted post on X, formerly known as Twitter, per ESPN.com's Matt Walsh.

Jessica Pegula weighed in as well and said the players were "ugly af," with Ben Shelton having a similar reaction:

Beyond the series' unique animation, it's worth noting The Wild Thornberrys stopped airing in 2004, the same year Gauff was born. Shelton hadn't even celebrated his second birthday yet.

Referencing a piece of pop culture that's 20-plus years old isn't always guaranteed to miss the mark, but calling back to The Wild Thornberrys might've been a bit too niche.

Coco Gauff and Aryna Sabalenka will face off for the US Open women's singles title on Saturday.

Gauff is appearing in her second Grand Slam singles final. She fell in straight sets to Iga Swiatek at the 2022 French Open.

Sabalenka will take over the No. 1 spot in the world rankings from Swiatek when the US Open concludes no matter what happens inside Arthur Ashe Stadium.

Sabalenka is after her second Grand Slam title of the year on hard courts. She opened the 2023 season with an Australian Open title.

Saturday's final will mark the sixth time Gauff and Sabalenka have met in their careers. Gauff holds a 3-2 advantage in the series.

Women's Singles Final Info

Date: Saturday, September 9

Start Time: 4 p.m. ET

TV: ESPN

Live Stream: ESPN.com and ESPN app

Prize Money: Winner ($3 million), Runner-up ($1.5 million)

Preview

Gauff and Sabalenka come into the women's singles final after two different types of semifinal battles.

Gauff, the No. 6 seed, beat Karolina Muchova in straight sets in the first semifinal on Thursday night.

Sabalenka needed two tiebreak wins to come back from a set down to beat Madison Keys and deny an all-American final.

The No. 2 seed's wherewithal on court could be the intangible that determines the final.

Sabalenka barely flinched when she was down in key moments against Keys, and we will likely see the same qualities at play against Gauff.

Both players have Grand Slam final experience, but Sabalenka is the only one of the two finalists with a major title.

Gauff will have the New York crowd on her side, and she played some incredible tennis in the last two rounds to qualify for her home final.

The 19-year-old lost just two games against former major champion Jelena Ostapenko in the quarterfinals and beat Muchova in straight sets.

Sabalenka produced five consecutive two-set wins before her three-set battle with Keys. She did not face the toughest path to the final, as she took on a single seeded player inside the top 15.

The 2023 Australian Open winner won the most-recent match with Gauff, which took place on the Indian Wells hard court earlier this season. Sabalenka won all six games in the second set of that quarterfinal match.

Gauff does have three head-to-head wins over Sabalenka, but the two players split the four matches they played on hard courts.

Gauff owns the advantage with the crowd and with a few extra hours of rest, but Sabalenka knows what it takes to finish off a Grand Slam victory and that could be the difference in an incredibly tight match.

Prediction: Sabalenka defeats Gauff in three sets

Coco Gauff is two wins away from her first grand-slam title after a dominant 6-0, 6-2 win over Jelena Ostapenko in the 2023 U.S. Open quarterfinals on Tuesday.

ESPN Stats & Info noted Gauff is the first American teenager to reach the U.S. Open semifinals since Serena Williams in 2001.

Gauff was one of five American-born players (men and women) who reached the quarterfinals, most in the U.S. Open since 2017. That was also the last time an American woman won this tournament (Sloane Stephens).

This is already the best season of Gauff's young career. She has 39 singles match wins and three tournament victories. The Florida native had more singles titles in 2023 than she had in the previous four years combined (two).

A Grand Slam title is the only thing Gauff hasn't won this year. She reached the quarterfinals at the French Open before losing to No. 1 seed Iga Świątek in straight sets.

Gauff's previous best finish at the U.S. Open was a quarterfinal appearance last year. She lost in straight sets to Caroline Garcia.

In addition to her singles run, Gauff is also chasing a doubles title with partner Jessica Pegula. They will take on Su-Wei Hsieh and Wang Xinyu in the quarterfinals on Wednesday.

The last player to win a singles and doubles title in the same year was Serena Williams in 1999. That was her first-ever grand-slam singles title at the age of 18.

There have been a total of 23 players, men and women, who won their first career Grand Slam singles championship as a teenager. Carlos Alcaraz is the most recent one to accomplish the feat when he beat Casper Ruud in the U.S. Open final last year.

Gauff, who entered this tournament as the No. 6 seed, is the second-highest ranked player still playing behind No. 2 Aryna Sabalenka. She will play the winner of tonight's Sorana Cîrstea-Karolína Muchová matchup in the semifinal on Thursday.

Coco Gauff is three wins away from the first Grand Slam title of her career.

The American star ended Caroline Wozniacki's comeback run in New York with a 6-3, 3-6, 6-1 victory in Sunday's round of 16 matchup at the 2023 U.S. Open in Arthur Ashe Stadium. The sixth-seeded Gauff will face the winner of the match between No. 1 seed Iga Świątek and No. 20 seed Jeļena Ostapenko in the quarterfinals.

There was a point when Gauff seemed to be in serious trouble after Wozniacki won the second set and broke to open the third, but the victor rallied back and seized control when the match was hanging in the balance.

Social media loved her performance:

This was the first career match between the 19-year-old Gauff and the 33-year-old Wozniacki because of the latter's temporary retirement.

Wozniacki walked away from tennis in 2020 following a career that included 30 singles titles and an Australian Open championship. The former world No. 1 and two-time U.S. Open finalist gave birth to two children during her time away but announced her return to tennis in an essay for Vogue in June.

While Wozniacki lost her second match in Montreal and first match in Cincinnati upon her return, she found her form at the U.S. Open and lost just one set in her first three matches. She also defeated No. 11 seed Petra Kvitová in the second round.

Gauff proved to be a much more daunting challenge.

The American entered her home country's Grand Slam as a crowd favorite with plenty of momentum after a tournament title in Cincinnati. She also won in Washington D.C., this year, and a major championship seems like the next step of her career.

Gauff's resilience was on full display from the early going when she overcame Wozniacki's break in the first game to win the opening set with relative ease.

Yet Wozniacki has a championship resume and wasn't about to go home without a fight.

She dominated much of the second set and didn't allow Gauff to even reach a single break point. After missing a number of chances, Wozniacki finally broke through on the sixth break point she created and did what was needed to force the decisive third set.

Wozniacki had all the momentum heading into the final set and was dictating the pace by forcing Gauff to chase her shots across the court.

Yet the theme of the afternoon was Gauff's resiliency, and not even Wozniacki's opening break in the third set was going to change that. Gauff won the next six games in dominant fashion and left absolutely no doubt who was advancing by the end.

*All stats courtesy of the U.S. Open's official website.