#US Open bubble exceeding Coco Gauff’s expectations

The karaoke room has been a bust, but the other added touches at the hotel have been warmly received.

Teen tennis sensation Coco Gauff, 16, thought she’d be bored in the bubble as she plays the U.S. Open tune-up, the Western & Southern Open, leading into the U.S. Open, which commences Aug. 31.

As part of the safety protocol plan, almost all the player are being housed in the Long Island Marriott alongside the Nassau Coliseum. They are trapped there — unless they take a masked and socially distanced bus ride to the Flushing Meadows grounds.

“It’s definitely exceeded my expectations,’’ Gauff said before her first match at the Cincinnati tune-up was moved to Queens this week because of COVID-19 precautions. “At the hotel they have a lot of activities for us to do. I was worried about that, that there wouldn’t be anything to do besides Netflix.”

Au contraire. The USTA stepped up its game, literally, to make up for the players being banned from Manhattan and unable to stay at their preferred hotel.

“They actually have a lot of things to do,’’ said Gauff, who advanced to the third round last August in her Open debut. “On site they have a lot of fun games that I’ve never really tried before. I really enjoy it. The weather has been great. Actually I’ve been sitting outside. The bubble has been great.”

On the tournament grounds, the USTA has installed a basketball court, pool table, soccer area, paddle tennis and a nine-hole mini golf course to motivate the players to stay longer when they’re not playing a match.

“At the hotel, they have PS4, ping pong, typical arcade games,’’ Gauff said. “They also have karaoke. I don’t think that’s been a big hit because I don’t think anybody wants to go up and sing in front of everybody in the tournament.”

A “very limited” amount of players — Serena Williams and Novak Djokovic — were allowed to rent a house as long as they paid for the security to monitor their actions. Sources estimate the expense at $60,000 just for security.

“The costs were astronomical, so I went for the bubble,’’ said 33-year-old Andy Murray, making a tennis comeback. “It’s nice. They’ve got games and arcades and things like that, which I enjoy. [I’m] still a bit of a child in that respect.”

Though Murray is at the end of his career, Gauff is at the start of what could be a dynastic run. In 2019, at 15, the Boca Raton, Fla., resident grabbed the attention of the tennis world at Wimbledon by reaching the fourth round, upsetting Venus Williams.

At January’s Australian Open, Gauff also got to the fourth round by gaining revenge on Naomi Osaka, who had ended her Open run. Gauff needs to improve her second serve. She can become erratic, but her resilience in bouncing back from holes was a thrill to watch at the 2019 Open with fans gaga over Coco.

“It is a bummer that we can’t have fans,’’ Gauff said. “But safety first. Hopefully next year we’ll be able to get things back to normal. You’re going to have to be your biggest cheerleader out on the court.’’