Coco Gauff: Five Things to Know About The Girl Who Beat Venus Williams

Fifteen-year-old Coco Gauff completed one of the biggest upsets in Wimbledon history, beating 39-year-old tennis great Venus Williams in back-to-back matches, 6-4, 6-4. Gauff became the youngest woman to win a Wimbledon match since Jennifer Capriati in 1991. She then won in the second round versus Magdalena Rybarikova.

Here’s five things to know about the possible next big women’s tennis starlet.

Her real name is Cori and she’s a young great player in the making.

Cori “Coco” Gauff is only 15 years old. She’s the youngest player ever to qualify for the Wimbledon main draw. Her appearance in one of tennis’ biggest tournaments comes just two years after she was the youngest-ever finalist in the US Open girls tournament, then just 13. She started playing tennis when she was seven and moved from her hometown of Atlanta to Florida to build her opportunities.

She worked her way to Wimbledon

In order for the 15-year-old Gauff to make it to Wimbledon, she had to qualify. She passed three rounds of qualifying including defeating Belgian Greet Minnen 6-1, 6-1 in the final. Minnen is ranked 154th in the world. Gauff is 313th.

Remember the name.

Aged 15 years and 122 days, America’s @CocoGauff becomes the youngest #Wimbledon qualifier in the Open Era after beating Greet Minnen 6-1, 6-1 pic.twitter.com/PSWlOiRNkB

— Wimbledon (@Wimbledon) June 27, 2019

She’s from a family of athletes

Gauff’s father was a basketball player at Georgia State and her mother ran track at Florida State. Only fitting that with her athletic parents pushing her, she was able to go after her opportunities and grow as a tennis player.

Success at a very young age

Before her historic win against Venus at Wimbledon, Gauff qualified for and won her first adult, professional singles match at Osprey. Five months later she signed a sponsorship deal with New Balance. This year, Gauff announced a multi-year sponsorship agreement with the Italian food company, the Barilla Group. The Barilla Group also sponsors another tennis great by the name of Roger Federer.

She defeated one of her idols

The Williams sisters inspired Gauff to play tennis, most notably Serena Williams. Both Venus and Serena had won a combined 10 grand slams before Gauff was born. Gauff and Serena share a special connection through Serena’s coach Patrick Mouratoglou, who’s worked with Gauff previously.