Quite often, you'll see young athletes overestimate what they can do, but that's not the case with Coco Gauff, who isn't one to compare herself to some of the greatest.
Matching any kind of legendary achievement is extremely hard and, by nature, quite unlikely. Still, you will find many young athletes who not only believe they can do it but are very sure they can do it.
Carlos Alcaraz has flaunted his ambition to become the greatest tennis player of all time multiple times, no matter how challenging that is. Some believe him, but Gauff wouldn't go there. The American teenager is quite humble and quite aware of her restrictions.
When speaking to The National ahead of the 2024 Dubai Championships, she admitted that she didn't think she could match Serena Williams's greatness. She's been compared to her many times since breaking out, and many believed that she could do it, but she doesn't see it that way, just out of respect for the legendary American.
"I think for me greatness is… I think multiple people can be great. Obviously, there's only going to be one greatest of all time and I just feel like no matter what I do, I don't think anything I’ll do will compare to what Serena [Williams] did for the sport and the game and with the amount of times she won."
It's a pretty sincere self-admission from Gauff, who didn't completely dismiss herself. She does have ambition and will work towards possibly being remembered among the greatest players to have ever held a racquet, which is certainly possible for her.
"But I definitely would like to be, when I retire, people, when they think of the best players, I'd like to be in that conversation. So hopefully I can do better and continue to do better. It's a big goal. It's a lot to try to do."
"But again, I feel like if I put a ceiling on something, then I'll stop at that ceiling or even worse, stop under it. So I just want to make things as limitless as possible. And at the end, when I put my racquets up, I can say I did everything I could to do all the things I wanted to."
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