It’s been a blended begin to the brand new 12 months for our April cowl star, Coco Gauff. The reigning US Open champion had a implausible run on the Australian Open earlier than taking place within the finals, as Aryna Sabalenka avenged that robust loss in New York, however Gauff has stumbled a bit since, dropping to Katarina Siniakova within the spherical of 32 in Qatar and to Anna Kalinskaya within the quarterfinals in Dubai (the place she additionally had an prolonged standoff with the chair umpire over a flawed line name—for the report, Gauff was proper—in an earlier match).

Immediately, although, Gauff’s quest for her subsequent massive title begins anew because the BNP Paribas Open—higher know as Indian Wells—kicks off in California. Gauff has a bye within the first spherical, and so gained’t take to the court docket till Saturday, when she’ll play the winner of the Clara Burel/Wang Xiyu match. However assuming she wins that, her subsequent massive take a look at would possibly come within the spherical of 16 towards Naomi Osaka (once more, supplied that Osaka, whose return to tennis after a protracted maternity break has been a bit shaky to date, makes it previous 14th-seeded Liudmila Samsonova—no small feat at this level).

If all goes in response to seedings, Gauff would nonetheless must get by Sabalenka once more (their matches and historical past to date have all of the makings of a implausible, and long-running, rivalry) as a way to sq. off towards world primary, Iga Swiatek, or the defending Indian Wells champion, Elena Rybakina, within the closing.

So, can she do it? I imply—have you ever seen her play? After all she will. On a superb day, in her greatest kind, Gauff stays nearly unbeatable. Of her rivalry with Sabalenka, it’s in all probability truthful to say that the heavier burden stays on the shoulders of Sabalenka to carry her feelings in test whereas nonetheless swinging for the fences, as is her fashion. However Gauff’s capability—at a mere 19 years of age—to play the fiercest tennis on the tour whereas remaining nearly ridiculously self-possessed is a factor to behold, and will serve her nicely right here.

After that? The sky’s the restrict. “One of many targets I wrote down on my imaginative and prescient factor, imaginative and prescient word, in my telephone, was to win a medal within the Olympics,” she stated earlier this 12 months, simply earlier than the beginning of the Australian Open. So there’s that—together with the French, Wimbledon, and the US Open all there for the making an attempt.