Coco Gauff spoke about Serena Williams's impact on her career and how she tries to find the right balance between following what she did and charting her own path as a player.
Comparisons to Williams have been made since Gauff broke through as a 15-year-old at the 2019 Wimbledon Championships, with some feeling she is the natural successor to the 23-time Grand Slam champion.
Placing so much pressure on Gauff at such a young age would have been too much for many players to cope with, but the American is wise beyond her years and handled those expectations impressively.
Gauff has never hidden how much Serena and her sister Venus Williams inspired her. Serena dominated women's tennis for most of her career before retiring after the 2022 US Open, while Venus, a seven-time Grand Slam singles champion, is yet to officially retire.
Despite their outstanding careers, both Williams sisters went through challenging moments. Gauff experienced that before her run at last week's China Open.
The American parted ways with her coach, Brad Gilbert, after suffering a loss of form at the Olympics and during the North American hardcourt season. She fell from No. 2 to No. 6 in the rankings after the US Open.
However, Gauff rebounded outstandingly in Beijing. The 20-year-old won her second WTA 1000 title by overcoming Karolina Muchova in the final after an outstanding performance.
Qinwen Zheng reached the semifinal of her home tournament, falling to Muchova at that stage. The Olympic gold medalist received incredible support at the China Open, with large and passionate crowds during all her matches.
Gauff gave some advice to aspiring young Chinese tennis players. She said paying attention to existing home players, like Zheng, is essential and can help their ability to develop and learn the game.
"Yeah, I think for me like the advice I have just for any tennis player, but especially Chinese, I think me growing up as a black woman in America, not having seen that much representation in the sport of tennis, where it was just Serena and Venus, I think really pay attention to the people playing in the sport."
Last year's US Open champion says paying attention to the best players in tennis is wise, as she did with the Williams sisters, but that needs to be balanced with not copying everything and being authentic on and off the court.
"I think for me, if you want to be the best, you have to emulate the best. I think just pay attention to tennis as much as you can, whether it's me or another player, Qinwen or whoever."
"Also don't let your circumstances or background affect your dream. No matter where you come from, it's possible. Yeah, don't let anyone tell you otherwise."
Gauff is undoubtedly one of the best players for kids to emulate. The American's maturity and how she handled being in the spotlight from such a young age is a great example to young players, and is something she probably deserved more credit for.
0 Comments