‘She Liked Fast Cars’ – 59-Year-Old Former Tennis Player Compares Coco Gauff’s On-Court Risk-Taking Ability to That of Tennis Legend Martina Navratilova

Published 01/25/2023, 8:10 AM EST

Did someone just compare Coco Gauff with the tennis legend, Martina Navratilova? Recently, the former American tennis player Zina Garrison talked about the similarities she found between the tennis legend and the rising 18-year-old superstar. Arguably, Navratilova never shied away from using any of her opportunities to bring about a change on and off the tennis court while creating a stand of her own. Similarly, the rising American sensation also knows the importance of the platform she has.

Did Zina Garrison compare Martina Navratilova with Coco Gauff?

During an interview with the Washington Post, the 59-year-old former tennis player believes that the 18-year-old’s zeal for coming forward on the tennis court is something she has seen in the earlier era of women’s tennis. Garrison, who has played doubles with the 59-time Grand Slam champion, believes that in terms of attacking, the 18-year-old has some similar instincts to that of the Czech-American tennis legend.

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She said, “While strokes and footwork can be fine-tuned with repetition, a genuine thirst for attacking is as much a reflection of temperament as a learned tactic: a mental aspect of a very mental game, as elemental as a fight-or-flight response. Martina was a risk-taker. She liked fast cars; she liked to speed. She skied. All that. For me, I was always calculated: ‘Tell me why I need to come to the net.’ ”

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And the same way, the 18-year-old is seen sharing the same hunger to attack with strokes and her amazing footwork. At such a young age, Gauff has created a name for herself.

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Along with Garrison, Navratilova also believes that the 18-year-old has limitless potential to fight for a lot of things on and off the tennis court.

Navratilova on Gauff’s limitless potential

The 59-time Grand Slam champion believes that the rising American tennis player has limitless potential. According to Navratilova, she just needs to sharpen some technical issues, and focus more on her serves to improve her on-court skills. Additionally, she also believes that Gauff will turn out to be a fantastic athlete.

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Will Gauff create history in the sport like the legendary Martina Navratilova? What do you think? Tell us in the comments section below.

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Written by:

Pratishtha Prakash is a Tennis writer at EssentiallySports. She has completed her Bachelor’s degree in Mass Media and Journalism from MIT ADT University, Pune. In the past, she has interned at the sports desk of The Hitavada, a regional English daily newspaper.

Edited by:

Tony Thomas

‘She Liked Fast Cars’ – 59-Year-Old Former Tennis Player Compares Coco Gauff’s On-Court Risk-Taking Ability to That of Tennis Legend Martina Navratilova

Did Zina Garrison compare Martina Navratilova with Coco Gauff?

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