Cori Dionee Gauff becomes the youngest woman to win the US Open Tennis Championship since Serena Williams

BY KRISHNA MISTRY

Cori Dionee Gauff (Coco Gauf) is a nineteen-year-old African-American professional tennis player and the youngest woman to win the US Open Tennis Championship since Serena Williams in 1999.

Gauff has won a total of fifteen titles in tennis, seven in the singles event and eight in doubles. She has achieved a lot at such a young age. Her journey began at the age of six when she saw Serena Williams win the 2009 Australian Open.

Gauff instantly fell in love with tennis, and seeing the passion she had for the sport, Gauff’s family moved to Delray Beach from Atlanta. This gave Gauff better training opportunities, where she had the opportunity to be trained by Patrick Mouratoglou, Serena Williams’ then-coach.

She played junior tennis, and at the age of fourteen, she received a wildcard to compete at the US Open and began her professional career. Though she lost her opening match at the US Open, she did not lose hope and came back in 2019.

In March of 2019, Gauff made her debut in the Women’s Tennis Association at the Miami Open, winning her first match against American player Caty McNally. She continued her training and received another wild card slot to play at Wimbledon.

Wimbledon is an annual tennis tournament held in London where players from all around the world come to compete. Uniquely, Wimbledon is played on grass courts, while competitions like the US Open or the Australian Open are played on hard or clay surfaces.

Gauff seized the opportunity and played her first match against Venus Williams, a seven-time Grand Slam singles champion, five at Wimbledon, and two at the US Open. Not only is Williams a phenomenal tennis player, but Venus Williams and her sister, Serena Williams, are Gauff’s tennis idols. Gauff won both sets during the match and gave credit to former pro tennis player Mary Joe Fernandes for giving her the confidence that she needed.

In an interview with Sports Illustrated Kids, Gauff mentioned, “She was like, “No, you have to go into this match thinking that you can win and believing that you can win. I was like, Yeah, you’re right. I was really just happy to play, but now I actually have to think about winning.”

Gauff took that confidence and moved forward at Wimbledon, where she beat exemplary players. Gauff made it to the fourth round, becoming the youngest player to do so since 1991, but lost against Naomi Osaka, a Japanese player who holds four grand slam titles. She then competed at the Austria Linz Open in October 2019, where she won her first Women’s Tennis Association title.

She followed up by competing at the Australian Open in 2020, beating Osaka in the third round and advancing into the fourth round. This was big for Gauff, as she lost the fourth round at the US Open against Osaka. She then qualified for the French Open in 2021 and became the youngest player to reach that spot since 2006.

Gauff was supposed to compete at the Tokyo Olympics 2020, but unfortunately, she tested positive for COVID-19, which forced her to withdraw from the games. Gauff then played at the 2023 US Open last September, where she won the championship.

This was groundbreaking for Gauff, as this was one of the first major tournaments that she had won. At the US Open, Gauff competed in the women’s singles, where she competed against players from: Germany, Russia, Belarus, the Czech Republic, Latvia, Denmark, and Belgium.

In the final match, Gauff competed against Aryna Sabalenka-Belarus. Sabalenka has been playing tennis for eleven years and has won thirteen titles. It was a tough match, but Gauff won two out of the three sets, making her the US Open 2023 champion.

Gauff is now competing at the Australian Open and has made it to the quarterfinals with a winning streak.