In July 2019, Coco Gauff stunned tennis fans worldwide by beating Venus Williams, a seven-time Grand Slam singles champion, at Wimbledon. This marked the arrival of Gauff on the world stage as a 15-year-old prodigy. She repeated the feat by defeating Williams at the Australian Open in January 2020. By July 2021, Gauff and Williams teamed up as doubles partners, though their journey ended in the first round at Roland-Garros.
Gauff has cherished the opportunity to be close to her idols, Venus and Serena Williams. Serena, with 23 Grand Slam singles titles, recently returned to professional tennis after an extended break. Gauff expressed admiration for the Williams sisters during her pre-Wimbledon press conference. She stated, “I played the sport because of them, believed that I could do things because of them, and I still look up to them a lot. Even when I play them, I’m still admiring. I think that’s the only time that’s happened to me in this sport.”
Serena and Venus will re-enter the doubles arena at Wimbledon, facing Camila Osorio and Solana Sierra in the first round on July 2. They have a formidable record with six doubles titles at Wimbledon. Serena will also return to singles competition, starting with Maya Joint on June 30. She is a seven-time Wimbledon singles champion.
Interestingly, Gauff has never played Serena Williams. A future encounter remains possible, contingent upon Serena’s continued participation beyond Wimbledon. Serena expressed interest in playing alongside Gauff, saying, “I would really love to play with Coco.” She shared her admiration for Gauff and reflected on her past choice of partners, mentioning Karolina Muchova. Williams added, “I love watching Coco as well. Now that I know that — and she’s so focused on singles nowadays. I guess I should have asked, though. I didn’t know.”
Currently ranked No. 7 in singles, Gauff is pursuing her first Wimbledon title. Her quest begins with a first-round match against No. 78 Tamara Korpatsch on Monday, June 29.
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