The Story of The Wonder Kid – Coco Gauff

Published 10/13/2019, 5:17 AM EDT

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Coco Gauff, probably she gained recognition after making it to the main draw at Wimbledon 2019 or after when she defeated Venus Williams in the round one of English Slam, which was match taking place between the youngest and the oldest contestants of the main draw.

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A Dream Run at Linz Open: 

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Now, the 15-year-old sensation of tennis has captured all the attention of the tennis world by reaching the finals of Linz Open 2019 as a lucky loser. She became the youngest tennis player since 2004 to reach the finals of a WTA tournament.

En route to her first WTA final in Austria, Coco Gauff defeated the top-seed and World Number eight, Kiki Bertens in the quarterfinals and claimed her first-ever top victory of her. Before pulling off the upset, she broke into the world’s top 100 rankings by reaching the quarterfinals in Linz. Presently, Coco Gauff is the youngest tennis player to be ranked inside the top 100 WTA Rankings. 

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This year has been a fairytale and a rollercoaster ride for the prodigy from Florida. She failed to qualify for Linz’s main draw but made her appearance as a lucky loser and later claimed victories over the WTA professionals to reach the finals.

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“This is definitely unreal, my first final on the WTA,” said Gauff. “Linz is my special place. Not even in juniors did I ever get into something like a lucky loser – now I’m in the final. I’ve had a lot of luck and happiness here. This is crazy. I thought I was out in qualifying and now I’m here.”

The Coco Mania at Wimbledon 2019: 

The Wimbledon 2019 will a tournament to remember for Coco Gauff. It will remain a surreal moment in her tennis career where she defeated her idol and a five-time Wimbledon champion, Venus Williams in her very first Grand Slam main draw match of her career.

“I told her to thank you for everything that you did. I wouldn’t be here without you,” Gauff revealed their conversation on thenet. “I always wanted to tell her that.”

In the third round match against Polona Hercog Coco played some warrior-like tennis which resonated her fans all around the world. She was just a point away from getting eliminated but just being present in the moment and believing in herself, the young lady reserved her fourth-round spot by making a remarkable comeback with her backhand slices.

“I was just telling myself to go for my shots like it’s either now or never. I always believe in myself even when the scoreline doesn’t say so,” Gauff said after saving two match points against Hercog. “I really fought my way through that match, I mean Polona was playing amazing, and I was just staying in there.”

Later, Gauff set up a clash against the eventual champion, Simona Halep.

DC Open Star:

In, Washington there were long queues outside the stadium for Coco’s round one match. The Americans turned out in huge numbers to witness their young hero swing her tennis racquets. Over there, she was tandem with Caty McNally and the teenage paragons claimed the doubles title at DC Open 2019 in front of their home crowd. 

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A Night To Remember in New York: 

Her next big stop was at US Open 2019, and Coco was given a wildcard to play her home country Slam. The young lady once again filled stadiums which resonated with ‘Come on Coco’ cheers. At Flushing Meadows, she credited the crowd for her match wins as she received support from every corner of the stadium.

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Her third-round match up with top-seed and defending champion, Naomi Osaka was one of the popcorn matches in New York. The critics wanted Coco Gauff to lose that particular match for the welfare of the women’s game.

The match had an emotional end with Coco and Naomi breaking down in the Arthur Ashe Stadium and their on-court interview turned out to be the highlight of the US Open 2019.

French Open Champion: 

However, her road to big courts of tennis consists of a string of achievements that involves numerous other achievements. At 13 years of age, Coco Gauff reserved the finals berth at US Open 2017 juniors without dropping a set in the entire tournament also became the youngest girls’ singles finalist in US Open’s history and Coco fell to her compatriot Amanda Anisimova in straight sets in the finals.

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The French Open 2018 was a fairytale tournament for the young soul of tennis. She reached in the finals of the tournament without dropping a set. In the championship match, she faced her doubles mate Caty McNally and pulled off her first career junior Grand Slam title by defeating McNally in three sets. Soon after she became the World Number one tennis player on the junior circuit.

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First WTA Match in Miami: 

Moving on with her match wins on the singles and the doubles domain, Cori ‘Coco’ Gauff became the Orange Bowl champion at the end of the year. The very next year in 2018, Coco Gauff made her debut WTA circuit. The American teenage sensation was given a wild card at the Miami Open and recorded her first WTA match win against her friend, Caty McNally.

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2019 Reverie Continuation: 

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The young warrior of WTA, Gauff’s ‘Coco Mania’ in 2019 has yet not concluded, she has earned a main draw spot at Luxembourg Open 2019 and will continue to make and break records of the women’s game.

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Written by:

Mahalakshmi Murali

1,909Articles

One take at a time

Mahalakshmi Murali joined EssentiallySports in 2018 as a tennis author and has gone on to pen more than 1800 engaging articles, probing into various aspects of the sport and its illustrious players. With her expertise on the sport, Mahalakshmi has interviewed stalwarts from the sport such as Serena WIlliams’ coach Patrick Mouratoglou and Kevin Anderson’s physio, Carlos Costa. Equipped with her vast experience and a keen understanding of the sport, Mahalakshmi now co-heads the tennis department.
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