Cori Coco Gauff is Wimbledon’s hottest tennis story this year, after she beat Venus Williams on a wild card. Tennis fans are buzzing about the American teenager, predicting that she is the Tiger Woods of tennis. Very little information is available in the public domain about Gauff. But, it’s clear that she’s been preparing for a professional tennis career for some time. Her image has been worked on. She has an Instagram account, with pictures in which she looks like a fashion model. Her early engagements with the media and supporters have left the impression of a young tennis player at ease with the glare of the media and who has, like Andy Murray, a willingness to be gracious to followers. Supporting her behind-the-scenes is Swiss tennis ace Roger Federer. – Jackie Cameron
By Thulasizwe Sithole
Cori Gauff, the 15-year-old who beat Venus Williams in her Wimbledon debut before moving on to a victory over Magdalena Rybarikova has been dubbed the Tiger Woods of tennis.
She set a record by becoming the youngest player to qualify for the main draw of Wimbledon in the professional era, before seeing off her idol Venus Williams on day one of the tournament, says The Telegraph.
The newcomer, nicknamed Coco, was a complete unknown, ranked 313th before being given a wild card into the Wimbledon qualifying tournament.
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The Delray Beach, Florida, teenager is coached by her father Corey, who was a basketball player at Georgia State. She also gets sporting genes from her mother Candi, who was a hurdler and heptathlete at Florida State. All members of Gauff’s immediate family have the initials CDG, including her younger brothers, Cody and Cameron, observes The New York Times.
Gauff started playing tennis at age 7, inspired by Serena Williams. She reached the girls’ final of the 2017 United States Open at 13, the girls’ final of the French Open at 14.
“Her father originally wanted her and her siblings to play basketball, as he had in college. She didn’t like it and couldn’t shoot, she said, but was able to play good defence,” says the newspaper.
Gauff’s rise to prominence at Wimbledon is no fluke. She is represented by Team8, the agency co-founded by Roger Federer, according to The New York Times. And, she has a coach in common with her idol, training since the age of 10, part of the year in southern France at the Mouratoglou Academy, which is run by Patrick Mouratoglou, Serena Williams’s coach, notes the US media outlet.
