Coco Gauff is right in the mix for the Roland Garros crown in 2025. The 21-year-old has already made deep runs this clay season, reaching the finals in both Madrid and Rome. And her record in Paris is rock solid too: four straight quarterfinals from 2021 to 2024, including a runner-up finish in 2022. Now, she’s pushing through the draw once again, eyeing her second Grand Slam title. And who better to guide her than the legendary Venus Williams?

Gauff kicked off her campaign with a clean win over Australia’s Olivia Gadecki. She wrapped up the match 6-2, 6-2 in just 71 minutes. Round two, though, didn’t go quite as smoothly. She faced 18-year-old Julia Valentova, a Grand Slam debutant ranked outside the Top 130. The scoreboard might’ve said 6-2, 6-4 in Gauff’s favor, but it was a little more chaotic than that.

Valentova handed over 33 unforced errors, giving the 2023 US Open champion plenty of free points. But even with all those gifts, Gauff had her own problems. She was broken five times in the match. The only game she held on serve in the second set came in the fifth game, which turned out to be the key one.

So, how do you push through tough matches and stay focused on the tour? Well, Venus Williams had something to say about that. The seven-time Grand Slam champ joined the TNT crew at Roland Garros, sitting down with Coco Gauff and Sloane Stephens to talk about facing pressure and staying grounded. Her answer? “Passion. Like love, love the game, but also a sheer determination to have fun no matter what. Yeah, like you want to win, but you want to look back and say, ‘I had a good time.’ It’s horrible to look back and be like, ‘I hated it.’ You don’t want to remember it like you felt sad. So win, lose, or draw, that was non-negotiable.

She further continued and said, “And like, making a life and a schedule that fit around happiness. Because when you’re happy, you play well. So those two go hand in hand, and it’s like a simple equation but non-negotiable. Your schedule, everything around you, has to make you happy. And it sounds a little selfish, but tennis players are selfish. But we can’t help it. We’re by ourselves, so we have to be. But I think you’re doing perfectly.”

Just a few weeks ago, Venus stepped into a new role – commentator. She’s now part of the TNT Sports broadcast team for the 2025 French Open. Announcing the news online, the 44-year-old tweeted, “I’m excited to join @tntsports as a commentator for @rolandgarros, alongside this incredible roster of athletes! Stay tuned for our coverage to start on Sunday, May 25. #RolandGarros 🎾” She shared the update on her IG Stories too, and fans were all in.

The Gauff–Venus connection goes way back. They played doubles together in Paris in 2021. And of course, who can forget Wimbledon 2019? Back in July 2019, a 15-year-old Coco Gauff, who was then ranked No. 313 in the world, stepped onto Wimbledon’s Centre Court with history already in the making. She had just become the youngest player in the Open Era to qualify for the main draw at the All England Club. What came next was even more extraordinary: she stunned 39-year-old Venus Williams, a player she had idolized for years, with a composed 6–4, 6–4 victory. Gauff broke Venus once in each set and committed just eight unforced errors in the biggest match of her young life.

She didn’t stop there. The following year, she repeated her triumph over the tennis icon at the 2020 Australian Open. Fast forward six years, and the former prodigy is now a serious contender for Grand Slam glory, with Venus cheering her on this time from the commentary box.

And while Gauff continues to take inspiration from Venus, she’s now chasing and even surpassing records set by Venus’s younger sister, Serena Williams.

Coco Gauff surpasses Serena Williams in record-breaking feat

The Williams sisters have long been central figures in Coco Gauff’s tennis journey. After defeating Olivia Gadecki in the opening round of this year’s French Open, Gauff became the youngest American woman in the Open Era to notch 20 singles wins at Roland Garros. Having turned 21 in March, she eclipsed Serena Williams, who had achieved the same milestone just before turning 22.

The 21-year-old American has spoken often about how vital Serena and Venus were to her rise. In a Time magazine profile, she recounted a childhood memory: watching Serena play at the Australian Open when she was just six, sitting beside her father. He told her Serena was “the GOAT”—a term she didn’t yet understand. When he explained it stood for “The Greatest of All Time,” young Coco looked up and said with conviction, “I want to be a GOAT.”

Now, she’s carving out her own legacy. Up next, she’ll face Marie Bouzková in the third round on Saturday. With momentum, belief, and history on her side, the big question remains: Can Coco Gauff take home another Grand Slam title?