15-year-old Cori Gauff pulled off a major shock on Monday, beating five-time champion Venus Williams 6-4, 6-4 in their first-round clash.
The teenage American – who was not even born when Williams had won her first two Wimbledon singles titles – showed not an ounce of fear on Court One, making light of the 24 years age difference.
Born in Atalanta during 2004, ‘Coco’ as she is named earlier became the youngster player to qualify for the Wimbledon main draw.
This was just after she became the youngster-ever finalist at the US Open girls tournament when she was aged just 13. A year later in 2018, Gauff became the second youngest athlete to win the Roland Garros Junior title.
Read - My goal is to win Wimbledon: Teenager Cori Gauff full of confidence after upsetting Venus Williams
She started playing tennis since she was seven and her family later relocated to Florida to help her get better training development.
Gauff hails from a family of athletes with her father having played basketball for Georgia State University while her mother has been a track and field athlete at Florida State University.
Last year in May, she won her first professional tennis match at Osprey and later that year she penned her first sponsorship deal with Sports giant New Balance.
Gauff needed a wild card to play in qualifying for Wimbledon.
In a telling reminder of her tender years, she was juggling her high school studies in the evening while trying to make the main draw.
Currently ranked 313 in the world, the 15-year-old passed three qualifying rounds to make it to the Wimbledon main draw, beating Belgian Greet Minnen 6-1, 6-1 by straight sets in the final.
Roger Federer’s management company Team8 handles the youngster’s affairs and even the 20-time Grand Slam champion tipped her to scale great heights before her clash against Venus.
“I’m super happy for her,” said Federer.
“Coco is a nice girl, works really hard. I think she’s obviously got a wonderful future ahead of her,” he said.
(with AFP inputs)
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