In a three-set, two-hour and 38-minute battle on the clay of Roland Garros, American Coco Gauff claimed her first ever French Open crown on Saturday, 6-7 (5), 6-2, 6-4 over top-seeded Aryna Sabalenka. The title is Gauff’s second major championship of her young career. Her first, the 2023 U.S. Open, also came at the expense of Sabalenka, also in three sets, and also after dropping the opener. It appears we have a solid rivalry brewing, and though the past is not necessarily an accurate indicator of the future, it would stand to reason that Gauff is far from done amassing major tournament trophies. Luckily for her, the crown jewel of the French Open, the Coupe Suzanne Lenglen, doesn’t take up much room in the old trophy case. In fact, I would wager that some of you can boast a larger award from finishing third in your middle-school soccer tournament.
Okay, response time. Instant react is to want to pile on the French and advance an agenda of offense and indignation:
“They can’t give the “real” trophy to the winner? They send her home with some cheap, souvenir shop replica? I mean, that looks like the same piece of junk I could grab from some pop-up memorabilia trailer in the spectator’s village. What a joke!”
While that might be true, this is standard practice. The presented trophy is a fixture of the venue and the tournament. It’s not a French Open thing, it’s just a thing. Wimbledon, Australian Open, U.S. Open…yep, all ceremonial in nature. The winners always get a replica.
