NEW YORK- Coco Gauff, 19, has made it to the U.S. Open quarterfinals for the second year in a row after knocking out 2018 Australian Open champ Caroline Wozniacki.
Tennis fans have been on the lookout for Gauff’s next moves after a video of her complaining, “How is this fair?” to the umpire who turned a blind eye to her opponent’s mistake, went viral on Tiktok. But, this isn’t the first time Gauff impressed the world by being the Gen Z icon that she is.
Gauff first made headlines at the 2019 Wimbledon when she won a David vs. Goliath match against 39-year-old tennis veteran Venus Williams. She made it into the 16th round of the tournament and was thereafter declared the youngest person to achieve this feat in the history of Wimbledon. She was just 15 years old at the time and was still in the budding stage of her career.
In the same year, Gauff also grabbed her first WTA title at Linz after winning against Jelena Ostapenko.
In the years that followed, Gauff eventually became known as one of the tennis prodigies, joining the likes of Tracy Austin, Jennifer Capriati, and Andrea Jaeger.
This year, the tennis prodigy went head to head against the former Danish champ, Caroline Wozniacki. And with two of tennis’ biggest household names, their New York clash was much anticipated by sports enthusiasts around the world.
Proving to be different from all her previous rivals, Wozniacki had a strong start compared to Gauff. At one point, Gauff had her serve broken and found herself in a bit of a rut. Brad Gilbert, a coach she hired on a “trial basis”, urged her to “ play longer points” and “put more shape on the ball”.
However, Gauff had a different observation and brushed off her coach’s suggestions, even telling him to “stop talking” in the middle of the match.
“I definitely agree that playing longer points is to my advantage (in general). But I felt in that moment, playing Caroline, watching her play so many years, that that’s what she feeds off of. I didn’t want to play into that game. I know playing against her, you have to be the aggressor.“, Gauff said.
Following her intuition, Gauff played her own strategy and was able to turn the tide. She won against the former champ with 6-3, 3-6, 6-1.
In an interview, Wozniacki commended Gauff for her athleticism:
“I think Coco over the last month and a half, ever since after Wimbledon, I think she’s not scared to hit through her forehand, which she has been in the past,” Wozniacki said. “I think she’s getting more depth on it and a little bit more rotation. I think that’s why she’s obviously winning more on a consistent basis. I think she’s always been a great athlete, she’s always had the backhand, the serve, the fighting spirit. I feel like right now it’s all kind of coming together for her.”
In return, Gauff also had nothing but love for Wozniacki at the end of the match, stating that she was truly an inspiration for her:
“She’s been an inspiration growing up. She definitely gets to a lot of balls. Sometimes I felt like I was playing myself. I knew I had to be aggressive today. In some moments I missed, but I was happy I was able to get back and focus”