Coco Gauff didn't pick when she won a Grand Slam, but according to Jim Courier, she couldn't have picked a better time than last year.
The teenage American has been part of the sport for a few years now. She's 19 right now and emerged as a 15-year-old by beating Venus Williams at Wimbledon. Pretty quickly, Gauff proved that winning that match was anything but a fluke as she became a pretty good and consistent player.
Many expected Grand Slams to follow, but they didn't. What was wrong? Was she overhyped? Many of those questions kind of went away when an 18-year-old Gauff made the Roland Garros final.
She lost to Iga Swiatek 1-6, 3-6, but she wasn't ready to win it. The defeat got some fans wondering whether she'll ever be ready, with some suggesting that she was not on track and was late.
Gauff squashed all of that in 2023 by winning her maiden Grand Slam at the US Open at age 19, and according to former world number one Jim Courier, it was perfect, as he spoke about the moment on Netflix's Break Point.
"Playing at the US Open, being an American player, there's nothing like it in the sport. Since Coco first came into the scene, it was obvious that she should be destined for greatness. Given Serena's swansong a year before, for Coco to come in and fill that void, it really is like a fairy tale."
To Courier, having Serena Williams retire one year earlier allowed Gauff to sort of step up and become the face of women's tennis in the United States. Winning the US Open a year later was just a fairytale and a proper passing of the baton moment in US tennis.
"Obviously, Serena and Venus, words can't describe what they meant to me. All the things that they had to go through, they made it easier for someone like me to do this. It's an honor. I hope that another girl can see this and believe that they can do it, and hopefully their name could be on this trophy too."
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