Coco Gauff prepares for Wimbledon clash with idol Venus Williams

While most 15-year-olds are looking forward to the summer holidays, Cori 'Coco' Gauff is preparing for the tennis match of her life against her idol, Venus Williams.

Gauff was the youngest US Open junior finalist at age 13, and on Thursday she thrashed Greet Minnen to become the youngest woman in the Open era to qualify for Wimbledon.

The youngster will take to Wimbledon's Court No1 on Monday after the conclusion of Jiri Vesely v Alexander Zverev, and face off against the five-time Wimbledon champion, 39-year-old Venus Williams. 

Coco Gauff was born in Georgia but has grown up in Florida, and comes from a sporting family. Her father played basketball at Georgia State University, and her mother was a gymnast and competed at Athletics at Florida State.  

She is currently ranked 301 in the world, and is already turning heads in the tennis world after claiming the French Open juniors title last year. 

It was the legendary Williams sisters that inspired Gauff from a young age. The duo had already racked up 10 grand slam titles between them before she was even born.

'I wouldn't say everything is modelled around her but if you watch me play you definitely see little bits of Serena,' said Gauff.

Her serve, also inspired by the Williams sisters, is already among the quickest in women's tennis. She reckons her fastest serve was 122mph. At Wimbledon last year in the women's singles, only two players broke the 120mph mark: Venus and Serena. 

Her earliest Wimbledon memories are of Serena. 'I remember watching Serena win. She's won so many times I don't remember the year. And also I remember Genie Bouchard's run (aged 20, in 2014) and everyone saying, 'She's so young, how did she make the final?' And I was like, I wanna do that.'

With the world of tennis at her feet, she is in no mood to set a cap on her potential. Asked for her career goals, Gauff replied: 'I want to be the best of all time — better than Serena.' 

She was pictured training hard on Monday, as she prepared for the biggest match of her career so far. It's undoubtedly the stand-out match of the first round, however the Centre Court honours have gone to Britain's Kyle Edmund for his match against Jaume Munar. 

Of course, a win over Venus Williams in the first round of Wimbledon would be a huge upset. We've already had one after Yulia Putintseva beat the US and Australia Open champion Naomi Osaka, and Gauff will be hoping for another. 

But it looks set to be an excellent year for Gauff regardless of the result.

The 15-year-old is expected to accrue $1million from sponsorship in 2019 alone, with agreements with Head and New Balance already signed. 

Source: Daily Mail

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