What were you doing in your late teens or early 20s? Probably, most of us were figuring out life, juggling studies, social life, and answering some tough questions about the future. But American tennis star Coco Gauff? She’s built differently. At a very young age, from making headlines as a prodigy to establishing herself as a force to be reckoned with on the court, she’s done it all with poise and determination. And the latest to sing her praises is former tennis pro Andy Roddick.

 The 41-year-old participated in the July 30 episode of Served podcast. He was joined by Jon Wertheim as the duo deliberated on a wide range of factors including the ongoing Paris Olympics and the performances of young players in the tournament. Chatting in the interview, Roddick said, “She(Coco) is a grown-up. Like, I am embarrassed for the 20-yo version of myself whenever am around her.” Besides being Gauff’s compatriot, Roddick’s association with her is not new.

When Gauff was facing challenges with her serve ahead of the 2024 Australian Open, she reached out to Roddick to help her improve her skills. Continuing further, the 2003 US Open winner lauded Gauff’s skills. “Honestly. She is phenomenal, she is intelligent, she is talented and confident…She is just great.” Roddick continued praising the youngster and highlighted the support she gets from her team.

“You can also see her teammates, don’t regret her, like generally, they like her. They really, really do and I think it’s just a huge deal for tennis to be friend-setter.” As Gauff walked up for her first Olympic games, she was given the magnanimous responsibility of bearing the US flag. The decision was unanimously taken by her team who expressed great support for the tennis star. This, however, is not the first time when Gauff has witnessed such remarks from Roddick.

On June 21st, Roddick appeared on the Tennis Channel Live Podcast, to discuss several factors including the Ladies Open where Gauff faced a little scare against Ekaterina Alexandrova. Speaking about the match, Roddick praised Coco for her resilience. “We know that she is great at dealing with it when she is struggling with something. She wins matches even when it’s not perfect.” Gauff, who played some interesting tennis lately reaching the third round in singles and quarterfinals in mixed doubles, has also reciprocated similar sentiments for Roddick.

When Gauff was all praises for Roddick

Gauff could not think of anyone else but Roddick to improve her serve. She decided to train with her compatriot ahead of the Australian Open. While the duo practiced only for two days, it seems to have given Gauff some good lessons, which the youngster herself admitted to. 

“I think I just need to continue to trust it and trust all the work that I did in the offseason,” Gauff said. “He’s probably one of the best servers in history, and especially on the American side. So, yeah, I don’t think I could have chosen anybody — or actually, I didn’t really choose, he offered. So I don’t think I could have gotten anybody else better to kind of help me with that.”

Returning back to Gauff’s current season, it will be interesting to see if the player can continue to defend her title at the US Open despite suffering a major heartbreak at the Paris Olympics.