15 year old Cori (Coco) Gauff has taken the tennis world by storm in the last 2 weeks. Firstly she managed to qualify for Wimbledon which in itself is a massive achievement for someone of her age. Her first round match was against one of her idols growing up and I’m sure a surreal experience to play against Venus Williams in round 1 at Wimbledon. Not only did she play against her idol but she managed to beat the former Wimbledon winner and shock the world. She has since gone on to beat former Wimbledon semi finalist Magdalena Rybarikova. Rybarikova has slipped to a world ranking of 139th in the world but there’s no taking away from the fact that Coco beat a seasoned tennis pro.
Gauff struggling to take it all in said after the match, “I don’t even know how I played, if I played better or not. I like to say maybe I played a little better (than the match against Venus).” Gauff is the youngest to play in an open tournament ever and she already looks like she has what it takes to go all the way. She has won the Junior French Open already last year but this is a whole new level she has to reach but she already has the attention of the great Roger Federer whose agency represents her so it would seem she is in good hands.
This tennis prodigy started playing at the tender age of just 7 years old. She was born in Atlanta but moved to Florida for better tennis opportunities. She comes from a sporting family as her father played basketball for Georgia State and her mother was and athlete as well which is probably why this 15 year old has all the skills to take on the world’s best tennis stars. She signed her first major sponsor last year when New Balance offered her a multi-year deal, showing that even at her age she is well taken care of.
I hope this story will continue well into this year’s Wimbledon tournament and who knows maybe this young star has what it takes to conquer the tennis world? One thing is for sure she has the eyes of the world on her and from here on in, win or lose, she will be closely watched in future tournaments as we may be seeing the rise of the next great women’s tennis star.
