Cori Gauff may only be 15 years old but she has already gotten the attention of many media outlets and fellow tennis players. The Florida-born tennis player, who is completing her first tour of the Grand Slam tournaments this year, is already being heralded as the next big thing in the tennis world. Gauff, for her part, has also partly fueled these praises as she said herself that she wants to be a success in the courts.
Serena Williams’ coach praises Cori Gauff
If there is one person that has the credibility to admire Gauff’s skills, that is Patrick Mouratoglou, who coaches 23-time Grand Slam winner Serena Williams. Coincidentally, the renowned French coach heads and owns the Mouratoglou Academy, where the young star trains as well.
Mouratoglou praised Gauff’s performance against Slovenian player Polona Hercog during last month’s Wimbledon games. In that specific match, she barely scraped by with a total score tally of 3-6, 7-6, 7-5. He said that he noticed that something light up in her when she was already about to lose to her opponent. He says that her refusal to lose is something that can only be found rarely in players.
In fact, according to an interview with the New York Post, Mouratoglou said that even at an early age, he can already see that Gauff is going to be a champion. She complimented Gauff’s dedication to her sport, which will help her go far in the U.S. Open.
Mouratoglou is not the only person that has sung praises for Gauff. Tennis pundit Daniela Hantuchova has made the daring act of comparing the young Gauff with 18-time Grand Slam winner Martina Navratilova. She describes Gauff as having the same movement and game reading ability as Martina.
Hantuchova says that Gauff will go into the games as one of the favorites and will certainly deliver some early wins. Gauff may not get the championship this year but Hantuchova already predicts that she will be a future winner of a Grand Slam tournament.
The comparison to Navratilova may hold water. After all, at age 15, Gauff pulled off an opening-round win against Venus Williams in last month’s Wimbledon games in London.
Cori Gauff’s ambitious goal
Gauff, meanwhile, plans to have a long career in the tennis court and she wants to be one of the greatest tennis players in history. In fact, she already has her sights on Williams’ record of 23 Grand Slam wins. Since she is still young, only time will tell if she can indeed do it.
Gauff at the U.S. Open and results in 2019
Ranked no.140 (career-high), Gauff has an 11-5 win-loss record in 2019. Cori is currently playing at the U.S. Open where she defeated Anastasia Potapova 3-6 6-2 6-4.
Gauff will compete against Timea Babos in the 2nd round. They have never played each so far on the main tour.
Cori Gauff |
| Embed from Getty Images |
