15-year-old tennis star Cori “Coco” Gauff is in a superb form this year. She became a sensation after she beat Venus Williams and some have even compared her to the great Serena Williams but her father thinks that she is not a prodigy.
After making it into the fourth round of the Wimbledon, her fanbase grew overnight. The former First Lady Michelle Obama highly praised her, she said about Cori: “a wonderful young woman who’s showing us that we don’t have to wait to see what the next generation can do.”
Cori has another achievement to her feather, she has been handed a wildcard entry in the US Open. With her growing popularity and success, she is set to become a millionaire by the end of this year.
Why Cori Gauff’s parents don’t consider her a prodigy?
Though Cori’s popularity is growing every day, her parents do not consider her a ‘prodigy’.
Coco’s parents, Candi and Corey Gauff, aren’t huge fans of the word ‘prodigy’. Coco’s father says:
“I understand the Webster’s dictionary definition of it, and maybe it’s applicable, but to me, it’s like Bobby Fischer in chess. Somebody who can see the chessboard. That’s a prodigy to me. They just have a mental capability that’s so unique and so off the charts, when it comes to something like tennis, Coco works hard. This is not an accident. She might be overnight popular, but she’s not an overnight success.”
Coco is not too concerned with the labels she just wants to play with the right attitude and hard work. She says that if she is being talked about too much then it puts unnecessary pressure on her. She said that she is not concerned about positive or negative things talked about her:
“Even the negatives I see [don’t] bother me because I don’t care.”
She added: “I just want to win more. I love winning more than I hate losing.”
