"I was nowhere near her level at 15 either on the court or off the court, not even close.” When a tennis player of Serena Williams's calibre says so about someone, the person has to be special.
Cori “Coco” Gauff—all of 15—is a special talent. Williams has been mightily impressed with what she has seen so far of Gauff. The American teenager beat the older Williams—Venus—in the first round of the ongoing Australian Open. Gauff, as a qualifier, had accounted for Venus Williams at Wimbledon last year, too. She was the youngest ever player to qualify for Wimbledon.
Interestingly, Gauff, ranked 67 in the world now, spent time training with Serena Williams in the off-season.
Making her debut at the Australian Open and also the youngest player in the draw, Gauff came back from a set and 3-0 down to defeat Sorana Cirstea on Wednesday.
The American prodigy then took out defending champion Naomi Osaka 6-3 6-4 in the third round. The two have a bit of a history. When Gauff and Osaka met five months ago in New York, also in round three, then-world number one Osaka crushed the tearful and overawed teenager 6-3, 6-0 in a little over an hour. That first clash was memorable also for what happened afterwards, when the teenager cried and Osaka consoled her, before Osaka herself began welling up.
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In October last year, Coco Gauff became the youngest woman to win a Women’s Tennis Association singles title since 2004 (and also the youngest American to do so in 28 years) by winning Austria’s Linz Open. She beat former French Open champion Jelena Ostapenko to claim the $43,000 prize money.
Some timely advice from her father and coach Corey Gauff helped calm her nerves and beat Ostapenko in that final. After all, the family knows more than a thing or two about sports and being in pressure-situations on the field. Papa Gauff and her uncle both played basketball. Her grandfather was a baseball coach. Both her mother Candi and her grandmother were athletes.
Coco Gauff has had an impressive start to her Grand Slam career, winning eight of the 10 matches she has played so far. She reached the fourth round at Wimbledon, the third round at US Open, and has made the fourth round of the ongoing Australian Open, where she will play 14th seed Sofia Kenin of the United States or China's Zhang Shuai.
