Miss America

American tennis fans have learned to expect the out-of-the-ordinary from CoCo Vandeweghe. But how about the extraordinary?

- Stephen Tignor

For most tennis players, beating the top seed at a Grand Slam tournament is a pretty big deal. Pulling off a major upset usually brings out a mix of shock, relief, elation, joy, thankfulness—and a little more shock. By the time a player has fallen over, stood up, put her hands over her face, stared bug-eyed at her coaches and finally jogged to the net, she has run the emotional gamut.

That’s not how it worked for CoCo Vandeweghe at this year’s Australian Open. In the fourth round, the 25-year-old Californian blew past top seed Angelique Kerber, 6–2, 6–3, in 68 minutes. It was her first win over a world No. 1, and when it was over the local TV commentator screamed, “She’s done it!”

Yet as Vandeweghe watched Kerber’s last return of serve float long, she was the picture of nonchalance. She looked over to her player’s box, shrugged her shoulders, and turned her palms upward, as if to say: “So, that just happened.”

When Vandeweghe was asked how she felt, she didn’t tear up, feign speechlessness or gush about how she had played the match of her life. Instead, as she put it, “Well I guess I faked it a lot because I was feeling like crap out there, but, you know, ‘fake it till you make it.’”

By now, nine years after Vandeweghe tore through the junior US Open without dropping a set as an unseeded 16-year-old, tennis fans in the U.S. have come to expect the unexpected from her. After her semifinal run in Melbourne, they’re starting to expect the unexpectedly brilliant.