At the age of 19, Coco Gauff worked her magic in the tennis arena by winning her first title. Despite being thrust into the spotlight by a series of important events, Serena Williams‘ former coach Patrick Mouratoglou recently said that he believed the young American tennis sensation was destined for greatness when he first met her as a 10-year-old child.

Recently, the French coach appeared on the Tennis Inside Club podcast, where he talked about how somewhere down the line he knew that the 20-year-old American tennis player was about to become one of the biggest faces in the tennis arena. He said, “Coco, I found her at 10 and I had zero doubt when I saw her, and you understand why? Because I saw I saw her face.”

Not only that, last year he took to his social media handle to share a little bit in detail about how he met her for the first time. He posted a picture of Gauff and wrote, “I remember clearly the first time I met you, @CocoGauff. You were just 10 years old and came to participate into the test weeks to be part of @MouratoglouAcad. From the start, I knew that you would have a fantastic career.”

In terms of technicality, Mouratoglou also had words of praise for Gauff last year, highlighting how she can easily move past her opponents just because of her technical add-ons. In an interview with CNN, he said, “Her competitiveness when it came to playing matches against other players was impressive. She was able to beat players that were technically better than her because of her competitiveness.”

At the young age of 19, Coco Gauff had an incredible start to her tennis career, winning both singles and doubles championships and making waves with her extraordinary talent. However, last year, during the French Open, the 53-year-old tennis coach was seen helping out with her performances as a temporary coach.

When Serena Williams’ former coach stepped in to help Coco Gauff

Gauff, who has known Mouratoglou since she was ten years old, worked with him after parting ways with coach Diego Moyano in early April of last year. Mouratoglou stated in a Canal+ interview that the current setup was only meant to last until the clay court major’s conclusion.

He said, “I’m not the official coach of Coco Gauff. Coco is part of my academy since she was 10. She doesn’t have a coach at the moment. She is going to play Roland Garros. So I decided, per her request, to spend time with her on the court, to help her at least for Roland-Garros.” In addition, even the 20-year-old tennis player shared her thought that while she was in between coaches, the best person to get in contact with was none other than the French tennis coach himself.

What do you think about Mouratoglou’s words regarding Gauff? Share your thoughts in the comment section below.