Coco Gauff brought a ray of hope to American tennis after winning the 2023 US Open! After her, another young talent is preparing to win and be competitive for her country. 17-year-old Clervie Ngounoue shares a long connection with the sport and also looks up to Gauff’s role models as an inspiration. Her coach was also positively impacted by one of her role models, to make tennis more accessible for children of color.

It all started when Clervie won the Wimbledon Girls Singles title last year; it was her first junior Grand Slam title while previously making quarter-final appearances at the 2023 French Open and the 2022 US Open. Ngounoue is a teenage sensation hailing from Washington, DC, whose parents are from Cameroon. Her natural skill for the sport was obvious from a young age.

Her family fully supported her dreams of becoming a professional tennis player since they saw her ability. The young American recently achieved a noteworthy career first when she defeated Alize Cornet in straight sets to win her first-ever match in the Indian Wells Masters qualifying round.

This triumph highlights her developing skill and establishes her as a significant player in the American tennis scene, following in the footsteps of luminaries such as Coco Gauff. Ngounoue has received most of her coaching throughout her career from her father, Aimé Ngounoue, who has been instrumental in helping her hone her craft.

Clervie started playing tennis because of her father. She used to watch him coach her elder sister, “I grew up watching. I grew up on the court. Basically, I held the racket when I was 3, kind of just loved it ever since.” As the family knew the basics of tennis, they could understand what little Clervie needed. She further added, “Knowing that everybody kind of had a bit of an understanding of what I was doing, of what we were doing and the competition itself I feel like that connection really just brought like our families closer, and nowadays I mean when we’re all competing, they all know what it’s like.”

She looks up to the Williams sisters and has been very vocal about it. In an interview in 2022, Clervie acknowledged it, “… Growing up it was always Serena and Venus. I mean all the time I think just the fighting spirit is what really pushed me on the court…” Sometime last year, she also revealed that the Williams sisters are her source of inspiration and motivation, “… I wanted to put their photos on my wall all the time and it’s those people I want to follow in their footsteps.”

When Ngounoue considers their influence, her respect for the great tennis icons highlights her enduring respect for their accomplishments and the significant impact they have had on her tennis career. After Clervie was coached by her father, she also benefited from the advice of Jermaine Jenkins, a well-known coach who was Venus Williams‘ hitting partner and has experience working with Naomi Osaka.

The Williams sisters changed Jermaine Jenkin and his family’s life

It should be noted that Jermaine Jenkins has been closely associated with the Williams family for a very long time. Being a person of color, he knew the challenges people of color would face. When he was looking to make a name for himself, he was present at the right place at the right time. He was on a trip with his friend in Florida playing golf, he found out that Venus Williams was looking for a sparring partner. Without wasting any time further, he immediately reached out to her and things worked out.

Jermaine’s brother Jamere Jenkins is a former ATP Top 200 pro and was the former World No. 1, Serena Williams’ hitting partner. The Williams sisters helped the Jenkins flourish. Coming from a challenging background, Jermaine wanted to get more children of color into the sport. He knew money was the biggest barrier.

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In an interview a few years ago, Venus’s former hitting partner said, “We lose a lot of our Black males to other sports because of the entry to play tennis… First of all, you need a racquet. That’s about 200 bucks. You need balls, you need lessons. It’s not like you can just go out and teach yourself how to play. It’s a very technical sport…” So he wanted to find ways to make tennis more accessible to children who did not have the opportunity because their families did not have the money to enroll them in training.

Currently, he has the opportunity to put his objective to action. Jermaine said, “God has put me in a place to make an impact through tennis. That’s my main goal for now. However I can make a positive impact on someone’s life by using tennis to do that.” When he was asked who’s the next star to keep an eye on, he said “Clervie Ngounoue.”

As Ngounoue is under coach Jermaine Jenkin’s sight now, and the Williams sisters’ connection draws them closer, it will be interesting to see how they fair as a team in the future.  Nevertheless, what are your thoughts on the young, rising American? Let us know in the comment section below.

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