Coco Gauff’s passage into the second round of the Australian Open was as routine as it could have been, and marked a nice, comfortable start to life in Melbourne.
After an unpredictable United Cup campaign, the top-ranked American will have relished this introduction to Grand Slam action.
She was always expected to cruise to victory, with her opponent, Kamilla Rakhimova, ranked only just inside the top 100.
However, the clinical manner in which Coco Gauff dispatched her was pleasing to see, whilst also keeping her errors to a minimum.
Speaking to the press after her win, the 21-year-old was unsurprisingly upbeat following such a fine showing.
Coco Gauff gives her opinion on the current state of men’s tennis
Interestingly, Gauff was actually asked to rate the current level of the men’s game by one of the reporters, particularly the top five.
After all, they used the WTA as a benchmark, comparing how competitive their best players are compared to how dominated the ATP Tour is by just two men.
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Gauff admitted to the Australian Open press: “Obviously I noticed it. I don’t think it’s necessarily me looking at the rankings, but you kind of have an idea what the rankings look like when they are winning at basically everything.
“Yeah, I think obviously I know that the women’s — I know, for example, last week Amanda was No. 3. At the end of that week, then I was number three. So I know those are going to be very close.
“I feel like it’s mainly always going to be like that on the women’s side, because I just feel like we’re all very close right now, and anybody can win on any given day.”
Then, touching on Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner more specifically, she added: “Yeah, I have noticed on the men there seems to be Carlos and Jannik doing really well, but yeah, I don’t count the other guys out.
“I think a couple of other guys have a really good chance of breaking that rhythm up, and they just need to develop a little bit more and a little bit more time.”
Gauff explained why she’s more inconsistent than Iga Swiatek and Aryna Sabalenka recently, which only adds to the unpredictability and excitement of the women’s game.
Why the WTA Tour is currently more exciting than the ATP Tour
This topic of conversation, discussed by Gauff, is the perfect justification for why the WTA Tour is so much more exciting than the ATP Tour.
After all, no matter the event, it truly feels like anybody could win the title.
Last year saw all four Grand Slam titles split between four different players, three of whom had never won their respective tournaments before either.
It’s refreshing and engaging, and creates so many additional storylines for fans to follow.
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On the men’s side, however, the final almost always seems like a foregone conclusion. If Alcaraz and Sinner are both fit, they will both be there.
The last three major finals have been contested between the two of them, and the last eight titles have been shared between them as well.
It’s enthralling to see such dominance executed by two young legends of our sport; however, for the wider men’s tour, it does make things a little mundane and predictable.
