American teen, 15, who became the youngest girl in 50 years to qualify for Wimbledon takes on her idol Venus Williams in dream tie – less than a week after sitting her school exams
- Cori ‘Coco’ Gauff will take on the seven-time Grand Slam singles winner today
- Teen adores the Williams’ sisters, and even moved to Florida to further career
- Coco has even met Venus before – getting autograph at U.S. Open aged eight
An American teenager who became the youngest woman in 50 years to qualify for Wimbledon will face her idol Venus Williams in the first round.
Cori ‘Coco’ Gauff, 15, will take on the seven-time Grand Slam singles winner today – just a week after finishing her exams.
The teen has modelled her life on the Williams sisters – moving from Georgia, Alabama, to their home state of Florida to further her career.
This isn’t the first time she has come face-to-face with her hero either – when she was eight, Coco’s father managed to get front-row tickets to the U.S. Open and she even got her autograph.
She told SportsMail: ‘They’re great role models for the sport and in general. I’m super excited to play against Venus. I’ve never practised or hit with either of them.
Cori ‘Coco’ Gauff, 15, will face her idol Venus Williams in the first round of Wimbledon today – despite finishing her exams just a week ago
The American teen, pictured yesterday during a training session, has modelled her life on the Williams sisters – moving from Georgia, Alabama, to their home state of Florida to further her career
‘My first US Open I went to when I was eight we saw a Venus match, my dad somehow got us front-row tickets. I got her autograph, I was so happy.
‘After the match she gave the ball kids one of the balls and he gave it to me — I don’t know if she told him to.’
Coco was the youngest U.S. Open junior finalist at 13, and according to Forbes is set to earn $1million (£800,000) from endorsements in 2019.
Her serve 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.
‘I want to be the best of all time — better than Serena,’ she added. ‘I to hit like her, take the ball early like her.
‘I wouldn’t say everything is modelled around her but if you watch me play you definitely see little bits of Serena.’
This isn’t the first time she has come face-to-face with her hero Venus, pictured on Saturday, either – when she was eight, Coco’s father managed to get front-row tickets to the U.S. Open and she even got her autograph.