Serena Williams pricelessly affects hopeful tennis stars.
Quite a long time ago, a youthful confident named Coco Gauff was no special case.
The American wunderkind, who dominated her initial match at the 2022 US Open over Leolia Jeanjean of France, grew up revering Williams — very much like essentially every other maturing ability in the game. Yet, as a youthful Person of color coming up in Florida’s world class tennis scene, Gauff could connect with Williams to a degree few others could.
In front of the 2022 US Open — where Gauff desires to come out on top for her most memorable significant championship and Williams will without a doubt play her last — the 18-year-old commended the 23-time Huge homerun champion for getting through and turning into a legend “in a game that is overwhelmingly white.”
“That’s something that as a little girl — and even now — meant a lot to me,” Gauff said during US Open media day. “Especially, like, growing up, before I was born, there wasn’t many. Before Serena came along, there was not really an icon of the sport that looked like me.
“So growing up, I never thought that I was different because the No. 1 player in the world was somebody who looked like me,” she added. “I think that’s the biggest thing that I can take from what I’ve learned from Serena.”
Gauff previously looked into tennis at four years of age, when she watched Williams bring down Dinara Safina for the 2009 Australian Open title.
She’s in many cases portrayed venerating both Serena and Venus — a seven-time Huge homerun champion by her own doing — all through her life as a youngster. Fittingly, Gauff slung to tennis superstardom by beating the senior Williams sister at Wimbledon in 2019, at only 15 years of age.
She was at that point on the Williams family’s radar by that point. However, now that she’s quite possibly of the greatest name in the game, Gauff has gotten “to several discussions” with both Serena and Venus. What’s more, similarly as a youngster, Gauff keeps on respecting the GOAT from far off.
“It’s just the way that she handles herself — she never puts herself down,” Gauff said. “I love that she always elevates herself. Sometimes being a woman, a Black woman in the world, you settle for less. I feel like Serena taught me that, from watching her, she never settled for less. I can’t remember a moment in her career or life that she settled for less.
“I think that’s something I took from her,” she added. “As a person, I’m growing into being an adult and learning how to handle things now with the media and tennis and everything, I’m trying to learn to not settle for less.”
