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‘She’ll Be a Real Threat Again’ – 19-Year-Old Coco Gauff Touted To Be a Real Force of Nature Amid Iga Swiatek Threat Ahead of French Open

Published 04/12/2023, 4:17 PM EDT

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For the 19-year-old American tennis starlet, Coco Gauff, a lot has changed since last year. After having a strong showing in Paris, Gauff’s form gradually waned off as the season moved onto the hard-court swing. Despite finishing the 2022 season in underwhelming fashion, the French Open finalist has nothing to worry about in the forthcoming major clay-court swing, according to some renowned pundits. Zina Garrison and Rennae Stubbs recently showed incredible confidence in the 19-year-old tennis star.

Former tennis giants show incredible confidence in Coco Gauff  

Zina Garrison, the three-time mixed doubles Grand Slam champion, strongly believes that Gauff is at a crossroads of discovering herself both as a tennis player and as a person. And in that journey, the only one thing lacking in her amazing, sensational teenage tennis career is a Grand Slam title.

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USA Today via Reuters

In an interview with tennis.com, the former Wimbledon finalists showed incredible confidence in the rising teenage sensation. Zina Garrison said, “She doesn’t need to worry about anyone else. Right now, she’s in the middle of figuring out who she is and how she wants to play. Coco’s time will be Coco’s time, and I do believe it will come.” 

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Not only that, but the Australian tennis coach, Rennae Stubbs, says she has nothing to worry about and has taken an indirect approach so that she doesn’t have to worry about her opponent from last year’s French Open final, Iga Swiatek. Stubbs said, “She’ll be a real threat again on clay,” 

19-Year-Old Coco Gauff Banks on Daniil Medvedev’s Indian Wells Drama to Take a Cheeky Dig at the Russian Star

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Gauff lost the Roland Garros final last year to the world no. 1, Iga Swiatek. The former American tennis player, though, believes that the 18-year-old doesn’t need to lose sleep worrying about the Polish star after observing her improvements this year.

When Garrison likened Gauff to the legendary Navratilova 

A couple of weeks ago, the 59-year-old former tennis player compared the rising tennis star’s on-court risk-taking ability to tennis ace, Martina Navratilova, in an interview with the Washington Post. The 18-year-old is extremely similar to the Czech-American star in some aspects, according to the former Garrison, who has played doubles with the 59-time Grand Slam champion.

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She noted that both tennis players take risks and that there are many similarities in the ways in which they attack their rivals on the court. Many tennis greats concur that the 19-year-old has made a name for herself at a young age.

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Written by:

Pratishtha Prakash

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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.
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Edited by:

Tony Thomas