Venus, Serena, opened the gate for Coco Gauff
Coach Patrick Mouratoglou says Serena and Venus Williams paved the way for Coco Gauff and other Black athletes to be successful in tennis. Mouratoglou, who worked with Serena for a decade and enjoyed lots of success, followed 19-year-old Gauff's run to the US Open title.
After becoming a Grand Slam champion, Gauff remembered her idols, highlighting that Serena and Venus made her believe she could be a tennis player one day and win the biggest titles. "I think Serena and Venus Williams inspired a lot of African Americans and Black people in general because before them it was difficult for people of color to imagine themselves in that place.
They really opened a big gate for people of color. Winning Grand Slams and making history like the two of them did, you start to think 'It's possible for me too.' That's the inspiration, that's what it's like. They're an inspiration to the world," Mouratoglou told CNN.
Although Gauff is just 19, she has been around the Tour for quite some time.
In juniors, Gauff started making strong results when she was just 13. When it comes to the pro level, Gauff was just 15 when she upset Venus en route to reaching the Wimbledon round of 16. Now at 19, Gauff is a Grand Slam champion - enjoying a career-high ranking of No 3 in the world - and she is also the highest-ranked American female tennis player. "Coco has been making history literally since she was a kid.
At 13 and a half years old she was in the finals of the US Open in Juniors, at 14 she won the Roland Garros Juniors title. At 15, she beat Venus Williams at Wimbledon. At 16, she defeated Naomi Osaka, who was the World No. 1 at the Australian Open.
She's managed to achieve incredible results since she was young and she has always played with incredible pressure because everybody always expected her to do well. She has learned to deal with these things at a young age, and that explains partly her ability to win a Grand Slam at 19 years old
," Mouratoglou said