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Coco Gauff acknowledges she want to sooner or later be talked about as among the finest gamers in tennis historical past however admits she doesn’t suppose that she will be able to attain Serena Williams’ heights.
Similar to her idol Williams, Gauff – who shall be turning 20 subsequent month – achieved main success early on because the American is already a Grand Slam champion and the top-ranked American feminine tennis participant along with her rating of No. 3 on this planet. When Gauff beat Venus Williams and made the Wimbledon round-of-16 as a 15-year-old qualifier in 2019, individuals immediately began speaking about her as somebody who may doubtlessly be the subsequent Serena Williams.
20 days earlier than her twentieth birthday, Gauff has seven titles in her assortment, together with the 2023 US Open title and her first WTA 1000 title 2023 Cincinnati. Additionally, Gauff made the French Open remaining in 2022 and took part in every of the final two WTA Finals editions.
After making a giant Grand Slam breakthrough on the US Open and relieving herself of main strain, many imagine Gauff is now primed for extra large success and that she’s going to find yourself with at the least a number of Grand Slam titles. Whereas Gauff is hoping to do main issues sooner or later, she highlights she does to not put a ceiling on what she desires to attain or how a lot she will be able to obtain.
“I feel for me greatness is… I feel a number of individuals could be nice,” Gauff instructed The Nationwide.
“Clearly, there’s solely going to be one best of all time and I simply really feel like it doesn’t matter what I do, I do not suppose something I’ll do will examine to what Serena [Williams] did for the game and the sport and with the quantity of occasions she gained.
“However I undoubtedly want to be, after I retire, individuals, once they consider the perfect gamers, I would wish to be in that dialog. So hopefully I can do higher and proceed to do higher.
“It is a large purpose. It is so much to attempt to do. However once more, I really feel like if I put a ceiling on one thing, then I am going to cease at that ceiling and even worse, cease below it.
“So I simply need to make issues as limitless as potential. And on the finish, after I put my racquets up, I can say I did the whole lot I may to do all of the issues I needed to.”
How Gauff reacted after shedding within the Australian Open semifinal?
After profitable the 2023 US Open and beginning the 2024 season with a title at a WTA 250 event in Auckland, Gauff entered the 2024 Australian Open as one of many prime favorites for the title. Ultimately, Gauff did handle to make a deep run earlier than Aryna Sabalenka ended it by giving a 7-6 (2) 6-4 loss to the 19-year-old American.
For Gauff, it was one other constructive and powerful run however the American did not conceal that she was left very dissatisfied after falling simply in need of profitable back-to-back titles. Regardless of the frustration, Gauff tried to remain constructive and “rejoice herself,” telling herself that it was an excellent Grand Slam run and an excellent signal for the longer term.
“Truthfully, I do have a look at it, Okay, that was good. I sort of hate myself that I try this as a result of it’s a nice accomplishment to make it to a semifinal of a Grand Slam, and folks typically solely do that when of their lives. So I’m making an attempt to rejoice myself extra, however it’s arduous to do this,” Gauff mentioned in Doha final week.
“I am making an attempt to, you realize, make it as large a deal which is cool to consider how, like, a pair years in the past that may be, like, an enormous deal for me and now it is not. I do not know if it is a good factor or not. However I’m making an attempt to make it possible for I hold celebrating myself and never get too caught up on simply the trophy, that there are little wins alongside the way in which.”
Gauff’s subsequent Grand Slam win may come on the French Open
When this 12 months’s French Open kicks off, Gauff shall be making her fifth important draw look, barring an harm or an surprising setback. Up to now in her profession, Gauff has had success on the French Open and has had a few deep runs at Roland Garros.
After shedding within the French Open second spherical in her important draw debut in 2020, Gauff made the quarterfinal the next 12 months earlier than making her first Grand Slam remaining on the age of 18 on the 2022 French Open. In her first French Open remaining, Gauff confronted the perfect clay-courter within the recreation – Iga Swiatek – and did not actually stand a lot of an opportunity because the Pole ousted her with a 6-1 6-3 rating.
Final 12 months, Gauff reached the French Open quarterfinal earlier than Swiatek handed her a straight-set defeat.
If Gauff stays wholesome and stays constant within the subsequent couple of months, there isn’t a doubt that she shall be among the many prime favorites for the title at this 12 months’s French Open.
