Coco Gauff, the teenage tennis wiz is gradually cementing her name in tennis history one bat swing at a time. On Monday, Gauff broke a 15-year-record to be the youngest woman to reach the grand slam quarterfinal at the 2021 French Open.
She is also the current record holder for the youngest American woman to reach a Grand Slam quarterfinal since Venus Williams did it at the age of 17 at the 1997 U.S. Open.
Gauff showed off her clay-court best at Roland Garros, beating opponent Ons Jabeur—in just 53 minutes, 6-3, 6-1, to achieve the first-ever Grand Slam quarterfinal of her career.
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Meanwhile, the world No.25 has had a career-best nine-match winning streak at this tournament and expressed that all the games have been straightforward wins. Hopefully, her ‘luck’ will not run out soon.
“I feel like all my matches have been — I don’t know how to say it, but straightforward wins, like no crazy three sets and stuff. As we know, I have had a lot of those in the past.
“I just feel like this has been the most consistent tennis I have played at this level. Hopefully, I can keep that going,” she said.
Being one of six first-time Grand Slam quarterfinalists in the women’s draw, Gauff sees herself a contender to be the next great American player ever since she made a run to the fourth round at Wimbledon as a 15-year-old qualifier two years ago, USA Today reports.
Jabeur also affirms that the 2018 girls’ singles title winner has the potential to take home the trophy – if not this year, then sometime soon. “If she’s not going to win it now, she’s probably going to win another time,” the Tunisian said.
The 17-year-old’s achievement has been linked with her age by several outlets, but she reiterated that her opponents do not see age when she faces them on the court.
“I mean, on the court, I promise you my opponents don’t care about how old I am. They want to beat me just as badly regardless of my age, and I want to beat them just as badly regardless of their age.
“I don’t mind if you guys talk about my age. It’s a fact to me and it’s going to change every year. I mean, I’m only going to be 17 once, so you might as well talk about it while I’m 17.”
Gauff faces Barbora Krejcikova in the next round after the Czech easily beat former finalist Sloane Stephens, according to CNN.
Regardless of her wins, Gauff admits she is still learning, and most importantly she continues to mix up her plays, so she does not become predictable on the court.
