A Thornton resident who trains in Boulder just took one step closer to achieving her dream of playing in the Paralympics.
Last month, 18-year-old Sabina Czauz won the the Grand Slam at the U.S. Open, becoming the first American junior wheelchair athlete to win the gold in both the singles and doubles. She defeated the world No. 2-ranked Luna Gryp out of Belgium 7-5, 6-2, then paired up with Japan’s Seira Matsuoka later in the day to dominate American Lucy Heald (No. 5) and Ela Porges (No. 10) 6-0, 6-1.
Czauz herself is currently ranked No. 4 in the world in the juniors sphere, according to the International Tennis Federation.
“It was amazing. I’ve thought about it so many times. It didn’t feel real, to be fair. I think it kicked in a few hours later that, oh my God, I actually won. This is insane,” Czauz said. “I’d like to think my serve is pretty good, but I think it’s mostly just my mindset. I lose a few points and I’m like, ‘OK, that’s all right. You can get it back.’ I always remember that I can come back no matter what happens, even if it’s like 5-1 or 5-0.”
Earlier in the year, she made the finals in both the Australian Open and Roland Garros (French Open), but came up just short in each of those championship matches. The U.S. Open was her last opportunity to win in juniors before moving on to her women’s career. She now plays collegiately at the University of Arizona.
Czauz first began her tennis journey during COVID, when all other sports were shut down, and found her way onto the courts at the Rocky Mountain Tennis Center. Her coach, Kendall Chitambar, saw her potential from the very beginning, even if she was one of the quieter players he worked with.
Her game was plenty loud.
“When she came to us, at the time, she was just super shy,” Chitambar recalled. “I don’t know that I actually heard her voice even to say hello, but I saw this amazing athletic potential. I saw this amazing character potential. And from that day, I started looking at her potential long term. I always felt like I knew she was capable of doing something special.
“Tennis is a complex sport. Wheelchair tennis is even more complex, because you’re holding on to the racket with the hand that you’re also moving with. As she was learning, every now and then, just out of the blue, she would hit this superstar shot that was just off the charts. And it was like, ‘Wait a minute, how’d you do that?’ She wasn’t able to do it every time. It was just like once in a blue moon, everything would connect.”
Chitambar added that it was “unbelievable” that Czauz could go from a newcomer to the game to winning a junior Grand Slam in the span of five years, and believes she has the talent to continue that success as she ventures into the women’s world of the sport.
This year alone, she was able to beat the top four juniors in the world: Brazil’s Vitoria Miranda, Gryp, and Sweden’s Emma Gjerseth. She hopes she’ll be among the three names called to Team USA for the 2028 Paralympics, but knows that she’ll have some fierce competition to get there.
As for right now, she believes her U of A Wildcats will be the team to beat in the collegiate sphere. Her junior career came full circle.
“When I first started, I kind of just saw this as a hobby,” Czauz said. “I didn’t think I would really go anywhere with it, but then I made it to the U.S. Open the first time, which was just by chance. Somebody couldn’t make it. They needed to call somebody up as soon as, basically, coming the next day, so that was me. I wasn’t even planning on it or anything. That kind of opened the doors. That made me see what I could achieve if I just kept going and put my mind to it.”